Excitement and Loneliness

"Onii-chan! I'm here!"

In came my little sister, Sakura, riding that cheerful voice.

"Sakura, welcome."

When I got out of bed, Sakura practically dove into my arms. I'd fully recovered by now, so I could catch her solidly.

"Hehehe, today it's still just me ♡ We're all alone ♡"

Snug against my chest, Sakura nuzzled her face against me, all affection. It sounded like the others would be coming later.

"You're being discharged soon, Onii-chan."

My discharge was set for tomorrow, and lately the family members who came to visit had looked genuinely thrilled about it.

"Yeah. I'll be home soon. Though… since we moved, it'll be a house I've never actually been inside before."

"Even so, it's still 'welcome home'! Which means Onii-chan has to say 'I'm home' back, no excuses!"

"Welcome home," huh. The word felt warm, like it was welcoming me in as family.

"And then I get to give you a big squeeeze ♡"

Sakura just plain loved hugging me. Whenever she came to visit, she'd dive into my chest almost without fail. And it wasn't the least bit annoying.

When she expressed her affection this openly, I could really feel that even without my memories, she still accepted me as family, so I liked the hugs too.

"Yeah. Got it. I'll say it properly."

The moment I agreed, Sakura broke into a full-bloom smile against my chest. The sight was so adorable that I let my arms unwind without thinking and reached out to pat her head.

"Ah… ♡"

I'd thought she'd be happy, but the reaction wasn't quite what I'd expected, and I flinched and pulled my hand back.

"Aww…"

"Sorry, you didn't like it?"

"No, I didn't dislike it… my heart just jumped a little… so! Do it again! ♡"

With that, Sakura grabbed my arm with her own hand and planted it firmly back on her head.

"O-okay, okay."

I moved my hand gently, following the flow of her hair so as not to mess up her twin-tails. Sakura's pink hair was so silky my hand slid through without any resistance at all.

"Fu, fuhehe ♡"

Every time my hand stroked her head, the corners of Sakura's eyes drooped further and further. Seeing her face break into such bliss made me happy too.

"Onii-chan's hand feels so good… I feel all warm and toasty ♡"

I'd been thinking I'd keep going until Sakura was satisfied, but who knew when that would be. When I decided it was enough and pulled my hand away, Sakura looked a little wistful, but she didn't ask for seconds.

We kept on chatting like that for a while, until someone else came into the room.

"Shouyaaa, Onee-chan's here ♡"

In good spirits, Masami-onee-chan strolled into the room.

"Masami-onee-chan, welcome."

Masami-onee-chan set her things down on the sofa, then came over and pulled me into a hug.

"Tomorrow's finally the day you're discharged, Shouya… we'll finally get to live together…"

"Yeah… thanks for waiting."

Lately everyone had been copying Sakura, hugging me whenever they saw me. Being wrapped in everyone's warmth was reassuring and felt really good. My two older sisters and Mom were all taller than me, so they ended up enveloping me completely.

"Haaah, to think a day would come when I could do this with Shouya… I'd never even dared to dream it."

As she spoke, Onee-chan tightened her arms further and held me close. Her rather large breasts were pressing against my neck, which was honestly a little suffocating. But from her cleavage drifted a slightly stuffy, faintly sweaty yet lovely scent, and the thought of asking her to let go didn't even cross my mind.

"Hey, Onee-chan! Your chest is squishing a weird spot!"

Sakura noticed and peeled Onee-chan off me.

"Oh, my. Sorry, Shouya, I didn't notice. Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Honestly, Onee-chan! Showing off and shoving your boobs in his face on purpose! Is that supposed to be a dig at me?"

It seemed Sakura was self-conscious about her small chest too. The men in this world didn't seem all that fond of huge breasts, but… I guess from a woman's perspective, being small was still embarrassing?

"S-Sakura, once you grow a little more, your boobs will get bigger too, so… you really don't need to worry about it… right, Shouya?"

Masami-onee-chan was failing to placate Sakura and turned to me for backup.

"Really? Even if my boobs are small, Onii-chan will still like me?"

"O-of course. No matter what kind of boobs you have, Sakura, I, I like you."

Even though it was to cheer Sakura up, saying 'like' out loud turned my face red. Sakura kept saying her boobs were small, but for her age I thought they were plenty big.

And looking at Mom and her other sisters, the future seemed pretty promising as well.

"～～～! ♡"

Sakura looked happy, so this matter was settled.

"Sh-Shouya! Do you like Onee-chan too?! I feel like mine might've grown a little too big, but you still like Onee-chan, right?!"

Because I'd told Sakura I "liked" her, Onee-chan had worked herself into a strange state too. It was true she took after Mom and had a pretty large chest.

I guess when I'd said small breasts were fine, she'd flipped it around and started worrying I disliked hers instead.

"Y-yeah, I like you. I don't really care about chest size, so… please, both of you, don't worry about it…"

"I see… is that so… thank goodness ♡"

Once she understood I had no preference about chest size, Onee-chan seemed reassured. Both of them were red-faced and fidgety, but they looked pleased, which was a relief.

"Shouya-san, pardon us."

The next to enter were Chiaki-sensei and the two nurses. Since I'd be discharged soon and they wouldn't be able to see me, they'd lately been making a point of dropping in as a full group.

"Oh, Kudou-sensei, Nakano-san, Houzawa-san… thank you so much for taking such good care of our brother."

When Chiaki-sensei and the others came in, Onee-chan and Sakura bowed deeply. After all, today was the last time Onee-chan and the others would see Chiaki-sensei.

"Shouya-san has been such a good boy, so the rest of us have had it easy too."

Being praised like that by Chiaki-sensei made me happy. I hadn't really been consciously trying to behave, but still.

"To think I won't get to look after Shouya-san anymore… it really is lonely."

Maybe because tomorrow really was discharge day, Shiori-san seemed even more wistful than usual. Akari-san, by contrast, had an outing with just the two of us to look forward to, so while she did look a bit lonely, it wasn't to the same degree.

"I'm lonely too, but I have our outing, just the two of us, to look forward to!"

"""""Going out together?"""""

Everyone else was quick to spot Akari-san's words. No, quick to overhear them, rather.

"Akari-chan? Was that a sneak attack? I heard about an outing all of us were going on together, but I never heard anything about just the two of you."

The one cross-examining Akari-san was Shiori-san. Her usual gentle smile was in place, but her eyes weren't smiling at all. Chiaki-sensei was looking pretty sour too.

So Akari-san had been keeping the two-person outing under wraps. But I was the one who'd invited her, so I had to step in and help.

"U-um… I'm the one who invited her, so please don't be angry with Akari-san…"

"Sh-Shouya-san…"

"W-well, if that's the case, then I suppose it can't be helped… I was starting to think Akari-chan might have pressed you into it…"

"Th-that's awful, Senpai! Even I wouldn't go that far!"

Now Akari-san was the one fuming, but I figured it was safe to ignore that. In this world, common sense said the woman did the inviting, so Shiori-san's suspicion was perfectly reasonable.

"Oh my ♡ Shouya, you've gotten bold! ♡ But Onee-chan wants to go on an outing too ♡"

"Mmh, I want to go out with Onii-chan too…"

Hearing I was going out alone with one of them, Onee-chan and the others were openly envious. For my part, I had no objection to going out with the two of them either.

"Yeah. Of course that's fine."

""Yay! ♡""

The two of them joined hands in delight. At this rate, Karen-onee-chan and Kaede, who hadn't arrived yet today, would surely be happy if I invited them too. Karen-onee-chan in particular seemed to love going shopping for clothes, so maybe I'd have her pick out an outfit for me.

"Sh-Shouya-san, may we ask the same of you?"

The ones making that request were Shiori-san and Chiaki-sensei. They were asking for an outing with just the two of us as well… no, at this point, this had to be a date, didn't it?

"Yes. You've taken great care of me, so let's go! On a date."

The moment I said 'date,' everyone in the room twitched.

"Fufu ♡ That's right ♡ This is a promise of a date with Shouya ♡"

"A date with Onii-chan ♡"

"""A date with Shouya-san…"""

Everyone was savoring the word "date" in their own way. That just going out together could make people this happy in this world made me happy too.

The conversation was so lively, though, that the realization today's visit was the last suddenly hit me hard.

I'd be able to see everyone again, so that part wasn't lonely, but the thought that this, everyone coming to visit me here, was ending today did make me a little sad.

"Oh, Shouya-san? What's wrong?"

Amid everyone's celebrating, the one who noticed my mood was Shiori-san. After a whole month of her watching over me, I really couldn't hide anything from her…

"It's nothing… it's just, thinking that today is the last of these visiting hours, I felt a bit lonely too…"

"To think Shouya-san feels the same way… but we'll see each other again, so… right?"

Shiori-san pulled me into a hug, rubbing my back, gently soothing me as she spoke.

"Aaah! Shiori-senpai, using the confusion to cheat is so unfair!"

"That's right, Shiori-chan! We want to share Shouya-san's feelings too!"

The two of them protested at Shiori-san while latching onto me over her arms. The squish of three pairs of breasts pressing in from all sides like a kid-pile felt good, and the scent was nice, but more than that…

"I-it's hot…"

We were all giggling at how silly it looked when someone else entered the room.

"Sorry, Tak-kun! I'm running a bit late!"

"The moving prep is just refusing to wrap up…"

The new arrivals were Kaede and Karen-onee-chan.

"It's fine. Thanks for coming, you two. And good work with the moving prep."

Poking my head out from the three pairs of arms, I thanked the two newcomers.

"Aaah! No fair, Nakano-san and the others! I want to hug Tak-kun too!"

"Me too!"

The moment Karen-onee-chan and Kaede set their things down, they swapped places with Shiori-san and the others and latched onto me.

"Then I'll join too ♡"

"Me too!"

Seeing this, Masami-onee-chan and Sakura closed in around me too, as if to say Mix us in.

"E-everyone, like I said, it's hot…"

"Oh, come on, it was cold outside, so warm me up with Tak-kun's body heat ♡"

"Right, right, we worked hard on the move, so praise us ♡"

If they were going to put it like that, what could I do? I'd just have to endure it for those two.

"My, this looks like fun ♡ Let Mom in too ♡"

Mom, who had apparently arrived at some point, latched onto our cluster from behind Karen-onee-chan and Kaede.

"Mom, good work today."

"Fufu ♡ Getting a kind word of thanks from my own son ♡ I'm so glad you got better, Taku-chan…"

Mom was smiling, but there were tears welling slightly in her eyes.

I'd finally reached the point where I could stand on my own two feet and wrap both arms around my family. I was glad I'd been able to show Mom I'd come this far.