Question: If you come across a little girl who’s gotten lost on the street, what should you do? Tadayana’s answer would probably be the standard one—hand her over to a police officer.
Only, the little girl she ran into on the street today was a bit unusual. According to her, the one who’d gotten lost wasn’t her.
It was her brother.
“Got lost?”
That was the first thing Tadayana said.
“Mm. He got lost. Unknown-oneechan, help Komachi find my brother…”
The little girl’s eyes were watery with tears.
“Mm. Stay right here and don’t move. I’ll go get a police officer…”
“No, wait. My brother’s afraid of embarrassment and attracting attention.”
“Huh? His imouto’s missing and he’s worried about that?”
What kind of garbage-like person was that? Just as Tadayana was indignantly preparing to give this brother of hers a few corrective punches to the soul once she found him, the little girl across from her added,
“Eh… Onee-chan, you misunderstood Komachi. What Komachi means is, the one who got lost is onii-chan, not Komachi~”
“Wait? Your name is Komachi?”
“That’s right, that’s right. Komachi’s name is very important, so don’t get it wrong, Pretty-oneechan.”
So the one who needed help wasn’t her… right?
Somewhere on an unremarkable street in Chiba Prefecture, Tadayana, who had come with Iroha Isshiki to stock up on daily necessities for certain girls, ran into this unexpected incident.
The girl was petite and adorable, about middle school age by the look of her. What stood out most was her head of dark brown short hair, soft and fine, glowing honey-like in the sunlight. Her hairstyle wasn’t especially neat either; a few unruly strands curled up playfully, as if they had minds of their own.
Her face still carried a touch of childish roundness, but the line of her chin already faintly suggested the delicate features she would have in the future. You could tell she had a promising future ahead of her.
Her skin was fair and translucent, like fine porcelain. But the most captivating thing was her pair of large, rounded eyes—a clear, warm amber, like melted toffee.
At that moment, those eyes were sparkling with lively mischief as she chatted with Tadayana on and off to pass the time.
Overall, the girl gave off a warm sort of aura that made people want to smile and draw close to her.
“All right, then. How old is your onii-chan? About your age?”
She looked around a third-year middle schooler, more or less, so her brother ought to be in high school. At that age, how could someone still get lost? Had something happened that made it unavoidable?
“Komachi’s onii-chan should be about the same age as you, onee-chan. He goes to Sobu High School, second year, and he’s a hopeless scumbag with eyes so rotten they’re beyond saving. Shh~ Don’t tell him Komachi said that.”
Oh… so he went to the same high school as her. Then his intelligence should at least be within normal human range. How had he managed to get himself lost?
“Does he have a phone with him?”
“No. onii-chan’s is a social failure, so he thinks there’s no need to bring a phone when he goes out. It’s not like anyone would call him anyway… boohoohoo…”
Toward the end, the girl called Komachi fake-cried while peeking at Tadayana to see how she’d react.
“All right, then. Yeah, that is kind of serious. Your onii-chan really isn’t ordinary. Going out in modern society without even bringing a phone—he’s definitely rare. Got it. I’ll explain all this to the police officer. Here’s my phone number. Once the police officer who comes here finds him later, remember to call me.”
With that, Tadayana started to leave. Since there wasn’t actually anyone in danger of being lost, that meant there was no reason for her to stay, right?
“Wait~ Onee-chan. Komachi’s still a little scared after all. Could you stay with Komachi a little longer? Just for a bit.”
“All right… just for a bit.”
“Yay… Onee-chan is such a good person. You score really high with Komachi on that point~”
What was with that weird way of speaking?
For the moment, Tadayana looked around at the surroundings. There weren’t many people nearby. And in a little while, Iroha Isshiki would probably reach the meeting spot. In that case, she’d likely have to make her wait a bit longer.
“What did onee-chan come here for?”
“To live.”
“Eek… this topic suddenly got really heavy… Sorry, it’s all Komachi’s fault. Komachi shouldn’t have asked that…”
The little face opposite her immediately turned teary-eyed again, making Tadayana say in comfort, “It’s nothing. You don’t need to blame yourself.”
Besides, her shift was in the afternoon today. Her morning was free.
“All right… since onee-chan says so, then Komachi will… Eh, onii-chan’s here!?”
Mid-sentence, the still-sniffling child suddenly ran toward a boy approaching from up ahead.
“Ow… that hurt. Komachi, did you put on weight again lately… You’re…”
By the second half of that sentence, Hachiman Hikigaya had already turned his attention toward Tadayana. Or rather, he’d seen her with Komachi from the moment he started walking this way. Only now had they actually spoken.
“You’re… dead-fish-eye guy?”
Tadayana said.
“Who are you calling gloomy guy…? I have a name. Hachiman Hikigaya…”
“Oh, come on, onii-chan. As your imouto… eh?! Onii-chan, do you know the pretty onee-chan? Since when… Have you actually graduated from being a social failure…?”
“No, it’s just one-sided acquaintance. She’s at least pretty famous at our school. She’s ranked first on the girls’ secret face-ranking list, so both boys and girls know her. In other words, she’s basically the school beauty…”
“What kind of way is that to put it? That’s so sad. No, saying that right in front of someone is super gross, onii-chan…”
“…Aren’t you the one who asked…”
“Sorry for wasting your time. Thank you for looking after Komachi while I wasn’t here.”
With that, Hachiman Hikigaya bowed deeply to Tadayana.
“Mm. It was nothing, just a small favor. Still, I didn’t expect you to have such a cute imouto… She really doesn’t match you at all…”
Faced with Tadayana’s jab, Hikigaya could only give a bitter smile.
“Thank you, onee-chan! See you next time!!”
Watching the brother and sister walk away, Tadayana had just turned around herself when she heard their murmured voices drifting back from behind.
“Hey, while I wasn’t around, you didn’t go and stir up anything weird, did you?”
“Wh— onii-chan, how can you think of Komachi like that? Is Komachi that kind of person?”
“You didn’t tell her any embarrassing stories about me or badmouth me or anything, right…?”
“Nope~ Komachi just said onii-chan got lost, and then that kind onee-chan…”
“Idiot. I just went to buy something. You’re making it sound like I went missing… You little brat…”
Those two really had a good relationship.
That was Tadayana’s conclusion after hearing all that.
—
T/N: sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i envy hiki
komachi
This is a fan translation of 转生白毛的我开局被雪之下拒绝告白 by 暗影之中 Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
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