Nyanko da! (ft Natsume): A Brothers Conflict Fanfic

Chapter 44: These are the Asahinas

I must have heard him wrong.

"I'm sorry. I think I'm more tired than I thought. You didn't happen to ask if I wanted to meet your cats for real, did you?" My voice comes out anxious, but I don't know how I couldn't be in this moment.

Natsume stands outside the elevator doors, unperturbed as they open and close beside him. His expression is serious, though his eyes twitch, so I choose to interpret that he's not as confident as he is straightforward.

He clears his throat. "Ema wondered how they were doing a while ago, but she wasn't sure about visiting by herself. My brothers might tease her if she went to a man's house alone."

Even if that man is her brother?  I wonder.

"Ano... And you're inviting me because...?"

Natsume's look of discomfort deepens as he averts his gaze. "I don't mean to be weird asking, but since you both want to see the cats, why not visit them together? You're Ema's friend, so she'd feel more comfortable if someone like you went with her." He rubs the back of his neck so firmly that I worry his collar will come loose.

I'm still not sure I completely understand what he's asking. "Has Ema-chan not visited you at your place before?" 

Natsume tightens his lips, but he doesn't elaborate.

Ah. So she's been teased about it before. I can't imagine why since they're siblings, but more than one of her brothers doesn't see her as, well, a sister...

Yusuke's already made it clear that he has a crush on Ema. He can't hide his feelings to save his life. Meanwhile, Wataru doesn't even try. I have no idea what the other Asahina brothers think about their sister, but I do know that they aren't Ema's blood siblings. 

It begs the question of where Natsume-san stands, but I don't want to unearth that rabbit hole right now...

"So let me get this straight: Ema wants to come visit your cats, but doesn't want to go alone. Me going with her would make both of us more comfortable, and you wouldn't mind either way?" I list off what I assume to be the facts. 

"That's right," Natsume says. "I wasn't sure about asking you to come, since we don't know each other that well."

That makes two of us.

"But you and Ema seem like good friends to the point that she'd offer to host you at our house. I don't mind letting you meet my cats, but I imagine it would've been weird coming from your friend's older brother."

"At least he's self-aware," I mutter. Nothing about this situation is what I'd expect from this kind of acquaintanceship. It hits me then that maybe Natsume's real goal is to visit his younger sister with less people around, like we did at lunch that time. I mostly faded into the background then, but on the whole it was a lot less chaotic that whatever the heck just happened. If I look at it that way, then inviting me along is just an excuse for Natsume to spend time with his cute little sister. 

And thinking about it like that makes it less weird in my mind. But that could be my exhaustion talking. Who knows?

"Okay," I blurt out. "I'm open to a visit with Ema-chan. Can you let her know for me and we can figure out a date?"

Relief softens Natsume's expression. His shoulders sag as he replies, "Thank you. I'll let Ema know. Oh, and it might be a good idea to keep this from the others. We don't want Tsubaki to invite himself again."

I wrinkle my nose in remembrance. "Good point." Not that I'd be broadcasting this to anyone, anyway. I'll omit this from my updates to my parents as well, or at least until after the fact. Kaasan would stick her head through the shouji if she learned I was going to another man's house, even if I was going with his younger sister.