Hoshino Siblings

The moment he said that, the girls all crowded forward excitedly.

Hoshino might have made it sound casual, but the name Hoshino Sakura was far from as simple as he made it out to be. Eight years ago, she uploaded her first solo single online. The following year, her debut album, for which she had written and composed every song herself, shot straight to the top of the sales charts upon release. Every album she released afterward, one each year, received an excellent response. She had an especially enormous fan base among students.

"E-excuse me, are you Miss Sakura? I-I'm your fan!" Unexpectedly, Ichinose was the most excited one. Her eyes were shining as she squeezed to the front, and when she spoke into the phone, Hoshino could actually see panic and reverence on her face.

"Huh? I heard more than one voice just now. Akira, are there really several girls over there with you?"

"Why would I lie to you? Your little brother's surrounded by girls right now, living the good life."

"Then hurry up and drop out, and bring all those little girlfriends of yours home, okay?"

"Then I'll ask whether they're willing to come with me."

"Hehe, stop pretending. If they really were your girlfriends, they'd definitely be so smitten with you that they'd do whatever you said," the voice on the phone said smugly. "Saying that gave you away. They must just be classmates or ordinary friends, right?"

"Sakura, life is hard enough already. Don't expose me."

"You're speaking Chinese to me now? What does that mean?"

"Chinese internet slang. Google it yourself."

Aside from Haruka rolling her eyes at him, the others were too occupied to comment on his flirtatious mouth. Kushida murmured what everyone was thinking: "So... this is what Sister Sakura is really like?"

"Sister" was Sakura's fans' affectionate nickname for her. In the eight years since her debut, Sakura had never shown her face in public, and her songs had only ever been released online. Fans could only imagine a mature, cool, elegant older-sister figure from her regal voice and the occasional brief posts on her blog.

But today, their fan filters had shattered completely.

Still, compared to those vague impressions, Sakura clearly cared far more about her beloved little brother.

"Akira~" Her voice over the phone was sickeningly sweet. "I've been holding it in for so long. I haven't seen you for two months—I really can't endure it anymore..."

"Sakura, please act normal."

"Sakura is currently suffering from little-brother energy deficiency. The red light on her chest has already started flashing."

"What I mean by normal is, don't casually say things like 'little-brother energy' and 'the red light on my chest.'"

"I don't care! I can't take it anymore! It's so boring when my little brother isn't home! Sakura's new album can't even be released!"

Hoshino was used to his useless older sister's shameless remarks, so he felt nothing and even found it a little funny. The others clearly did not feel the same way. Kushida quickly leaned close to Hoshino and shouted into the phone, "Miss Sakura, I'm your fan too! I'm really looking forward to your new album!"

Ichinose also called out, "I listen to your songs every day! I'm really looking forward to hearing your new songs!"

"Me too!"

"M-me too..."

Unexpectedly, even the most timid Sakura had gathered the courage to speak up. For the first time, Hoshino truly understood just how popular his useless older sister was.

"Hahahaha—" An arrogant laugh came from the phone. "Akira, did you see that? This is Sister's power! Hurry up and praise me!"

"Yes, yes, Sister is amazing. Sister is the best~" Hoshino replied in a mercilessly flat tone.

"Hmph. Akira, if you don't show me more respect, I'll mobilize your little girlfriends and have them pester you."

"No, please. That actually scares me." Hoshino immediately surrendered.

"Then say something nice first!"

"Big Sister Sakura is the best! Smart and cute, gentle and considerate—I like Big Sister Sakura the most!"

This time, Hoshino put every acting cell in his body to work. It still sounded incredibly forced, but Sakura fell for it all the same and laughed in satisfaction.

"Well said! Sister likes Akira the most too, Mua!"

Hoshino promptly tilted the phone away, letting his sister's blown kiss land with a smack against the hallway window.

"Alright, Sakura, you know this school doesn't allow outside contact. This call has already gone on too long."

"Then you're not allowed to hang up on Sister again!"

"If I have time, I'll call you again."

"Hmph, you must have some horribly troublesome favor you want Sister to help with."

"At most, I'd ask you to pass a message along to our brother. That's not troublesome, is it?"

"Eugh, that's the most troublesome thing." Sakura made no effort to hide the disgust in her tone. "You know Zhi is busy all day long. Even I only get to see him once every few days."

"That's why I can't casually bother him." Hoshino's eyes shifted as he decided to provoke her a little. "Then maybe I should ask Tong instead."

"Don't—Tong has been busy lately too, and she's been suffering from insomnia and not resting well. Don't bother her."

"Is that so? Then I should be even more concerned about her..."

"No need! Tong is just... right, her menopause came early. Her temper's awful right now. If you contact her out of the blue, you'll definitely make her angry."

Hoshino Hitomi, the eldest daughter of the Hoshino family, was thirty years old this year.

"I recorded that, you know. What do you think would happen if I sent this recording to Tong?"

"...You're so mean! Everyone in the family is bullying Sakura! Even Akira isn't cute anymore! Sakura is so pitiful!"

"...Alright, stop fooling around." Hoshino soothed her. "We'll talk later. I've already left these cute girls waiting long enough."

"Go on, go on. Sakura's little-brother energy is fully charged now, so she's the most considerate big sister again." After chatting nonsense with her little brother for so long, Sakura seemed satisfied. "Get along well with your little girlfriends, okay? Better yet, bring them all home next time. I'll give them autographs then."

Hoshino had wanted to say, "Who wants your lousy autograph?" But when he glimpsed the girls beside him staring with shining eyes, the words would not come out.

Alright, apparently someone really did want one. Maybe he could use that to get a few favors from them later.

After agreeing on a time for their next call, Hoshino hung up.

Putting away his phone, Hoshino turned back around. "Alright. If you have anything to say, say it now."

Just as expected, Sakura was shy, Ichinose reserved, and Haruka too prideful. Only Kushida moved close to Hoshino without any hesitation, speaking in a syrupy voice, "Hoshino~ You'll help me get an autograph, right?"

"Hmm, hard to say..."

"We're good friends, aren't we~"

Kushida was gritting her teeth in anger at his pretentious act, but she behaved even more intimately, wrapping both hands around Hoshino's arm and swaying it from side to side as she coquettishly pleaded.

Hoshino had intended to tease her a little more, but he was no match for her soft assault and surrendered.