Life In The Reverse World

13:37.

Harutaki and his younger sister, Ayaka, arrived at the nearest station and prepared to board a train bound for Shinjuku.

Faced with the sea of people crowding the station, Harutaki couldn’t help but hesitate.

“This isn’t even considered a super busy station…”

“Well, we’re going to Shinjuku,” Ayaka replied matter-of-factly. “It’s usually crowded anyway, and it’s Golden Week. Just the tourists alone can pack every single car.”

Having clearly researched routes and travel tips beforehand, Ayaka seemed entirely unsurprised by the situation.

Since it was their first time at this station, they followed the flow of people through the ticket gates and relied on the overhead signs to find the correct platform.

Just as Harutaki was scanning around, looking for a line with fewer people, Ayaka suddenly jabbed her elbow into his side.

“Hey… Harutaki, look over there…”

“Huh?”

He followed the direction she pointed, and froze.

No way…!?

Why was Shihou here too, at the same station, on the same line, even waiting on the same platform?

Then he noticed the young man standing in front of her, hands tucked into his pockets.

About a little over 170 centimeters tall, average-looking, with messy hair that stuck up slightly at the back of his head…

Could that be the ‘Onii’ Shihou mentioned before?

Harutaki had imagined that this “Onii” must be some impressive, ultra-normie type, maybe with questionable emotional intelligence, sure, but still someone exceptional. After all, a guy who could attract Shihou…

Yet standing before him now,

He’s… just ordinary.

That was the only word Harutaki could find.

Even at a glance, the guy’s fashion sense was terrible.

Black-and-white contrast might be a timeless classic, but it still demanded a certain presence from the wearer. The sloppy hairstyle clashed badly with his trendy clothes, giving Harutaki the impression of someone who’d gotten dressed in a rush right after taking office.

“That guy up front, that’s the Onii Shihou-senpai talked about, right?”

She tells you everything, huh…

Harutaki felt a twinge of jealousy toward his own sister.

He’d gone through hell, battling delinquent scum like Lü Bu, followed by a heart-to-heart night conversation, just to get Shihou to open up to him even a little.

And Ayaka had managed to become friendly with her just by cooking breakfast once?

“Eh? Compared to idiot Harutaki, that guy’s way too average, isn’t he?”

Ayaka seemed to know nothing beyond the word “Onii.”

Hearing that, Harutaki nodded vigorously, silently urging her to continue.

“Plain face, shorter than you by a lot, clothes totally don’t match his vibe, and that hair… ugh. Did he even comb it before leaving the house?”

Yes, yes, keep going.

“Feels like he’s getting completely crushed by idiot Harutaki.”

Exactly!

“I hereby declare Ayaka to be the world’s best little sister. No objections allowed.”

“Suddenly saying something so embarrassing… you idiot sis-con, scumbag.”

Blushing, Ayaka turned her head away and jabbed his side again in protest.

Nine seconds later, Harutaki clutched his waist and stepped aside, staring at the girl who still hadn’t stopped elbowing him.

“Isn’t that a bit much?”

“Idiot Harutaki, I mean we should go line up behind them…”

She pointed toward Shihou and Sato ’s queue, deliberately lowering her voice as if discussing classified information.

“Isn’t that kind of… bad?”

“It’s fine. With me Ayaka here, you can relax, just go… go get close to Shihou-senpai.”

She patted her chest confidently.

Harutaki shot her a speechless look. Why was her thinking even more scumbag-like than his?

It wasn’t that he was afraid of being discovered, he just didn’t want to put Shihou in an awkward position.

But then again… today was the last day of Golden Week. He’d already been selfish twice. Being a little more selfish probably wouldn’t hurt.

With that thought, he and Ayaka left the line for Car No. 3 and headed toward the boarding area for Car No. 4, where Shihou was waiting.

There were simply too many people; their change of lines went completely unnoticed. Most passengers were chatting with companions or staring at their phones. In this slightly cold, modern world, no one paid much attention to strangers.

Of course, given Harutaki and Ayaka’s looks, some gazes still lingered on them. As they passed by, he even caught snippets of whispered speculation about whether they were idols or models.

The Shinjuku-bound line was a popular one, with frequent service. Once Harutaki lined up about three people behind Shihou, it took only around two minutes for the train to arrive.

From the platform, the car looked fairly empty through the windows. But the moment the doors opened and everyone surged forward, the quiet, spacious interior filled up like beans being poured from a sack.

“That’s awful… That guy didn’t even look out for Shihou-senpai. She got pushed straight into the middle of the car.”

Protected by Harutaki, Ayaka felt no pressure at all and could still speak easily.

“Idiot Harutaki, hurry up and get over to Shihou-senpai. With this many people, no one will notice whatever you do.”

She made it sound like he was about to become a train groper. Harutaki glanced helplessly at the girl in his arms, catching the fruity scent drifting from her soft, cherry-pink hair, and couldn’t help but feel his thoughts stray.

“Hurry, hurry, or Shihou-senpai might get taken advantage of by some random stranger.”

“Ayaka, stop filling your head with weird stuff…”

At that point, how could he just stand there? Apologizing as he went, he pushed through the crowd toward the inside of the car.

That mere one-meter distance felt stretched into ten, or even more. As he squeezed through the gaps between people, the journey felt unbearably long.

A few passengers were clearly annoyed by his movements, but when they turned around, lifted their heads slightly, and saw his idol-level looks, build, and unmistakably normie aura, any urge to complain or scold vanished instantly.

…

13:36.

Chouko and Sato arrived smoothly at the platform and lined up for the Shinjuku-bound train.

There are way too many people…

Glancing around from the corner of her eye, Chouko recalled the last time she’d ridden a train to Shinjuku with Harutaki.

With this many people, she thought, the car would probably be suffocating again.

Onii will protect me… maybe…

Thinking of Onii’s earlier behavior, her confidence, once at ninety percent, wavered.

And with his slender build, she could easily imagine that he wouldn’t be able to do what Harutaki had done, using his arms to carve out space for her.

More importantly, with Onii’s timid, introverted personality, he would never act like Harutaki. Creating space for her meant squeezing others, inconveniencing them, and that was something Kaoru would never be willing to do.

Or perhaps… it wasn’t unwillingness, but fear.

Chouko already knew the answer.

Screech,

A sharp friction sound approached as the train rolled into the station, stopping in front of the boarding lines.

When the doors opened, the cars, despite having few people get off, were instantly flooded by the crowd rushing in. Amid the pushing and squeezing, Chouko was forcibly separated from Sato.

At first, she wanted to call out to him, to ask him to shield her from the crowd. But when she realized he himself was trapped and unable to move, she abandoned the thought.

“Chouko, be careful! Don’t forget to get off at Shinjuku!”

“Onii… you don’t need to worry about me.”

She smiled gently, reassuring him as he craned his neck to look at her with concern. Then, gritting her teeth and clutching her handbag, she moved toward the spot where Harutaki had stood with her last time.

Maybe, even in the same crushing conditions, she’d feel a little safer there.

Feeling the pressure from both shoulders, Chouko couldn’t help but think:

If only Harutaki were here…

If it were him, he definitely…

Suddenly, the hands gripping the handrail were forced behind her back. The brightly lit car and white walls vanished from view, her vision plunging into darkness.

This clearly wasn’t a problem with the train.

Because Chouko could feel it, a warm hand covering her eyes, while her wrists were tightly held by another hand, leaving her unable to move.

A… a train groper?!

She’d thought such people only existed in online stories and TV news. Never had she imagined encountering one herself.

What do I do… what do I do?

Should she call for Onii to save her?

Should she alert the passengers nearby?

“Mm…”

A faint whimper escaped her lips, only to be drowned out by the roar of the train starting up. In such a packed car, no one would notice her at all.

But a moment later, as her panic subsided and her thoughts cleared, she realized something was off,

Wouldn’t a groper cover her mouth to stop her from shouting?

Why cover her eyes instead?

Or rather…

Could the person covering my eyes… not be a groper at all?

As this possibility took root and grew stronger, she gradually stopped struggling. Almost immediately, the grip restraining her hands loosened.

Could it be… someone I know?

She thought desperately. Among her acquaintances, who would play a prank like this?

No matter how much she doubted coincidence and luck, only one answer remained,

“Guess who I am?”

As if sensing her surrender, a voice she knew all too well sounded by her ear.

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