Period 31: My Older Brother And I

Period 31: My Older Brother And I
Period	31
Volume	8
Previous	Period 30: Last White Day
Next	Period 32: The Queen's Trick

My Older Brother And I is the 31st chapter of the Zekkyou Gakkyuu series and 3rd chapter in the volume 8 manga.

Premise

Tired of the way her brother treats her, Mana makes a wish for a better brother and to her surprise it comes true! But soon she realizes this brother would be willing to do anything to make her happy...

Yomi's Introduction

Yomi points the Reader over to a pair of siblings who are chatting with ice cream. She asks the Reader to observe them and points out how well they get along, then asks if they ever felt the same way- to have a brother who would act this way.

Summary

After school, Mana has her friend read the report she wrote about her family. She describes who she is and how she comes from a family of four- but she only likes her parents. She utterly detests her brother, who makes fun of her and is highly inconsiderate; but her Teacher wants her to rewrite this part despite insisting its true. Just the other day he changed the channel while she was in the middle of an anime she's been wanting to see, just because he didn't like it. Hearing this, her friend wonders why they struggle to get along when she and her brother have no problems, and Mana wonders if its only her family that's like this.

But it's okay, beause she has a solution, revealing a charm book she borrowed from the school library. She's come to find that nobody is dependable, and this book will help her by changing her brother into the person she's dreamed of. She shows her friend that she must draw her dream brother and list various details about him within the sand of the temple grounds, including: Looks exactly like Matsui, cool and kind and doesn't get mad, listens to whatever I say. Then she offers the shrine money and prays for the brother she drew while her friend claims it probably won't work as Ikumi, her older brother rides by on his bike to remind Mana that their mother will probably be upset she isn't home yet.

The following morning Mana is still in a foul mood as she eats breakfast, annoyed that Ikumi ate her dessert the previous day. Her exasperated parents observe her and her mom offers to make her more later if she just forgets about it for now and Ikumi joins them to remark that Mana is running late for school. Alarmed, Mana looks to see he is right and he starts mocking her over the charm he saw her making the prior day, then he prepares to leave while complaining over having her as a sister when she insults him before rushing off to change. When Mana heads out the door to find him leaving he threatens not to save her any snacks later, causing her to angrily chase after him until she's unable to run any longer. By now Mana is at her wits end, and she loudly begs God to grant her wish. 

The following day a young man appears and he greets the confused Mana. He can't understand her behavior before reminding her that it's time for school and that they need to get going, and while she remains perplexed, her mother is shown behaving the same way wondering who the male is; although their dad simply states "it's Iku". He brings her outside and puts a bike helmet on her in order to give her a ride to school and apologizes for his behavior the prior day, offering her both snacks today in exchange.

As they arrive to school, Mana remains stunned as several girls crowd around her to remark upon how much he resembles Matsui from Johnny's and bring up how cool he is. They claim Mana is very lucky to have such a considerate and kind brother, and she is left wondering if God granted her wish. 

After school, Ikumi offers to play a game with Mana, who hesitantly agrees and determines she must be dreaming. Suddenly the game slides out of the case, and she instantly panics as she sees it got scratched and recalls how Ikumi used to respond, nervously waiting for him to begin yelling at her. But "Ikumi" questions her behavior and laughs, remarking on how clumsy she is before offering to help her play the game after convincing her it still works fine. She agrees and they begin to play while she realizes how much fun she is having, sharing snack with him until she ends up losing- but she's so happy that she doesn't even care. However, she wonders if she really is dreaming and she decides to enjoy it for all its worth.

The next day Mana is forced awake by their irate mother, who tells her to stop being such a child and depending on Ikumi so much like she has been lately. She criticizes her laziness by saying its her fault she stayed up so late playing games, and Mana gets up to change, crying as she leaves for school. Ikumi rides alongside her and attempts to cheer Mana up, claiming not to mind that he dotes on her so much. Mana complains by wishing for a much more kinder mother, as well as a dad who wasn't a weakling, leaving Ikumi to stop and observe her as she keeps walking.

Once school ends, Mana prepares for the worst as she makes her way home. She expects her mother to still be in a bad mood but to her surprise, she finds a couple who don't resemble her parents at all and are delighted to see her. She asks who they are, but they assume she's making a joke. They are her parents; but Mana is shocked as Ikumi returns home and she asks if he knows what happened after noticing the charm book under his arm. He brings up finding it in her room, and after he heard her speak that morning, he decided to make "dream parents" for her. She remains alarmed as they begin showering her with positive attention, offering to let her do what she wants and how they will make sure things are okay if she gets into trouble.

As Ikumi remarks on having the family of her dreams, she angrily snatches the book away from him and runs into her room to escape them. She begins to cry again, exhausted from trying to make sense of this and she tries to determine what to do. She begs for help while they try to get into her room, and in her hurry trying to escape her room she bumps into a picture of her family, that falls to the floor and causes her to remember things Ikumi did for her in he past. Despite being such a jerk he also took care of her; helping her up when she got hurt, standing outside in the freezing cold to get a game she wanted. She even found out that the other day when he was looking for her at the temple he was lying- it was him who was worried about her.

Mana continues to cry as she remembers how in her moment of poor judgement she forgot about the good times they has as siblings. She decides that she must make things right, and with the book in her hands she rushes out of her home and back to the shrine. There she discovers two parental figures were drawn in the sand surrounding her original drawing and angrily demands her family come back while brushing her shoe against the sand and dirt to ruin the image. Despite her efforts they won't go away. 

Suddenly, Ikumi and their dream parents show up, and he asks why she isn't happy even though he granted her wish. She refuses to see him as her brother, and she demands to know where her real family went and angrily she shoves him down. After he collides with the ground, she is horrified as he begins disintegrating into sand and falls apart; quick sand that she begins to sink into. He promises to let Mana see her family again though, because as her dream brother he would do anything to make her happy. The sand nearby shifts and Mana is saddened to find her family has been buried within it, leading her to beg God that everything returns to normal. She weeps and blames herself for everything that has happened to them when Dream Ikumi worriedly asks her about this as he begins to fade away; sand particles being carried into the air by the wind as she loses consciousness.

Mana awakens with her family in the hospital shortly after this. The doctors and staff were surprised they lived given the experience, and after being released Mana returned to the shrine to happily notice the drawings were gone. She believes it truly was just a bad dream, and since then she has gone on to appreciate her brother for his occasionally nice side; even if he's still a jerk sometimes, she is glad to be part of this family.

One day, Mana sits on the swings near the shrine again as she overlooks her newly written report. But as she stands up to leave, she spots a brand new drawing that Ikumi did, and stares at it in stunned silence.

Elsewhere, Ikumi is shown complaining about Mana and how he wished to have a cute little sister like his friend does. He shows him the charm book, saying that because girls use it he thought he would give it a shot too.

A cute and creepy looking girl is shown to be standing behind Mana suddenly, and within seconds she pushes her into the sand.

Yomi's Epilogue

As Yomi observes Mana and Ikumi playing a game, she discusses how fragile a bond between siblings can be. She suggests that if the Readers have ever thought about wanting an ideal sibling they try the charm out, and she is showing drawing someone in the sand. 

Yonkoma

In the omake for volume 8, it is shown that the "dream sister" is beginning to get fed up with Ikumi because of her being so cute, he likes to dress her up and fawns over her. She decides to get rid of him by wishing for another.

Characters

• Un-named sibling pair
• Mana Hibino
• Ikumi Hibino
• Dream Brother
• Mr. & Mrs. Hibino
• Mana's Friend
• Dream Sister
• Dream Parents