Dear Brother Chapter 5 Summary

Chapter 5 is a slight improvement from the last, but it still doesn't have any answers about the romantic development between Momo and Sougo.  So I suppose all of that happens in chapter 6?  This chapter was more centered on family ties and Aoba, so that bit is refreshing.  For those who want to follow the Chinese scans, please click here.

The chapter opens with Sougo slapping down a bunch of omiai (matchmaking) profiles for Momo to choose from, as an apology for rushing her into picking a partner earlier in the last chapter.  Momo sarcastically thinks that the way to happiness through marriage is outdated thinking, but Aoba points out that she was the one who wanted to spend the rest of her life with someone else in the first place.  He suggests that even though the pictures may not fit Momo's taste at first glance, she may strike up a relationship with the guy once she meets them.  This brings up Momo's memory of Sougo's pretend kiss in the earlier chapter, and she blushes just thinking about it.

Anyways, she stalks back to her room, telling the others that she's not in the mood to pick out pictures.  Sougo tries to stop her, saying that he's doing this all for her own good, and that she should be a little more appreciative.  This ensues in another silly argument, until Momo says, "Onii-chan, are you really alright with the four of us separating again?  Or was it your intention to leave us all along?"  This makes Sougo pause in his pursuit.

Back in her room, Momo thinks about whether she can really attain happiness if she got married straight away.  It wasn't easy for the four of them to get back together again, and if she got married they would probably end up leaving.  She wonders what the point of them getting back together was if their new relationship is so fragile and transient.

The next day as Gin leaves the house, a woman named Suzuki Setsuko (節子）approaches him saying that she's the mother of Aoba. (Note: 節子 can be pronounced a number of ways...from Setsuko to Kotoko to Tokiko to Tomoko.  Since it's in Chinese, I won't be sure of the pronunciation until I see the Japanese version.  For now, she'll just be Setsuko.)

Setsuko launches into a tirade, asking why Aoba moved out and lied to her about moving in with a friend.  She demands that Aoba come home straightaway, but Aoba adamantly refuses and slams the door.  Outside, Setsuko cries to herself, "Why did he so suddenly...It's because I wanted to avoid this that I had worked so hard until now."

At dinner, Gin tells Aoba to go persuade his stepmother to let him live with them, and that Aoba was at fault for lying in the first place.  Tired of hearing his brothers lecture, Aoba goes back into his room.  Momo follows him to make sure he's all right.

Aoba: Do you feel the same way as our brothers, Momo?  Even if I leave, will you just pretend nothing has happened?  And I had thought that they would try to make me stay here, that they would be lonely without me.  But I suppose this is what happens to siblings who have been separated for 15 years.

Momo: Of course I would be lonely.  See, isn't Sougo-niichan pushing me towards matchmaking lately?  If I decide to get married, there would be no reason for the three of you to stay here, and we'll be separated once more.  Once I take that into consideration, somehow it just makes it harder to take Sougo's advice.  We had to overcome so much to be together as a family again.

Aoba hugs Momo, ecstatic that she feels the same way.  He suggests that they run away together for a little while to teach the other two a lesson.

The next day, Sougo worries a little since neither Aoba nor Momo is picking up his calls.  Gin suggests that they may have ran away from home, which Sougo doesn't believe at first, but he's determined to find the both of them (completely disregarding the fact that they're both perfectly sensible adults).

Momo and Aoba stays at a business hotel, and they rent only one room to cut down expenses (so this means they share a bed).  Aoba reminisces when they used to sleep together all crowded as children, and the emptiness of sleeping by himself ever since he moved to the Suzuki family.  At first, he used to cry because he felt cold and lonely, and he kept wondering why he had to move all alone to another family.  Momo apologizes for being so harsh when she met them again, since she had got to stay with mom while the other three suffered.

Later on, Aoba and Momo exit a ramen shop, only to be discovered by Sougo.  Aoba's a bit scared and shocked that he would find them so quickly, but Sougo says that he only followed Momo's path to and from work and home.  Sougo gives them both a knuckle sandwich and scolds Momo for not acting like a proper older sister.

Aoba: Wait, don't yell at Momo.  It was all my idea!

Sougo: You shut up!  What do you think you are doing...didn't I tell you to focus and act properly like an adult?  If you keep acting like this, I'll be tied down to you for the rest of my life.

Momo: Then be tied down and take care of me for the rest of my life!

Sougo: What...

Momo: I won't go to matchmaking!!  I want to live with everyone...with you.  I don't care if you look down on me or continue to lecture me!  I don't care if I have to keep acting as the useless sister.

Sougo: What are you saying...Why won't you ever listen to what I say...

Momo: In the future!  In the future I don't know if I'll be able to attain happiness or not, but I know that if I separate with everyone right now, I'll definitely not be happy!  Didn't you say it was your duty to make me happy as a brother?

Sougo: What do you mean...  Are you threatening me?

Momo: You're free to feel that way.  Please, I want the four of us to continue living together.

Momo: Don't abandon me again like you did that day.  Don't leave my side... Tell me, onii-chan, did you not feel lonely when the four of us were separated as children?

Sougo: ...I don't remember.  But I do remember that I always lose out to you.  Whenever you start crying, I can only do as you wish.  When you cry because you lost at rock-paper-scissors, I had to pretend to lose to you.  Being your brother is like an invisible form of binding.  Fine...let's put the matchmaking aside.

Just then, Aoba spots his mother and tries to run away.

Gin: Stop right there you brat!  Good, don't move!  You better face up to this you idiot.  Think about how a parent would feel if the kid ran away from her at the sight of her!

Aoba: Mom...

Setsuko: The reason why I wanted you to stay away from the Komatsu family was because I was afraid that you would leave us the moment you contacted them.  No matter how much I spoil and love you, an outsider like me can never win against blood-related family.  It seems that my worst fears have come true...

Aoba: Mom!  I...

Setsuko: I discussed this with your brother.  You need to graduate from college, and after you do, you need to prepare to take over our family business.  If you can honor that promise, I won't question where you choose to live.

After Setsuko leaves, Aoba and Momo apologize to both Sougo and Gin.

Sougo: Aoba has always done as he pleased as a little kid.

Gin: I guess that's because he was the last born.

Momo: It's the privilege of being a younger brother.  Everyone loves you, Aoba...

Momo then runs off to check-out of the hotel, when she slips...

Cue Sougo to the rescue.  (Before reading that page, I had already guessed it would be Sougo...sigh...too predictable.  And I don't understand why the girls always have to slip in manga and not fall down...because that's what happens in real life!  There isn't always going to be a shining knight to the rescue...)

Momo's heart jumps a beat.

"How can I not be lonely?"

To herself, Momo thinks, "Eh?  What did he just say...?"

They  both straighten up, and Sougo tells her they should all return home already.

In Momo's thought bubbles, "I want you to stay by my side.  Because you're my brother...and I'm your sister.  I can wish for this, right?  ...It's not wrong, is it?"

Thoughts: It's an interesting turn...but nothing really happens much in this chapter.  I hope it moves on in the next chapter...because this is really slow in terms of plot development.  As for the "How can I not be lonely line", I decided to leave Sougo's name out of it, because it wasn't marked in a speech bubble.  So this makes me wonder if Momo actually heard correctly.  So far this series still hasn't convinced me that it's worth purchasing...so hopefully chapter 6 will somehow redeem itself.