Chapter 9

**Love's Sincerity** (愛 (あい) の誠 (まこと) , *Ai no Makoto*?) is the 9th chapter of the High School Family manga series.

## Summary

Kotaro and Susumu meet in the library, Susumu asks Kotaro if he wants to be a student librarian with him to which Kotaro accepts, Kotaro feels happy since being a student librarian will be able to get rid of his family in high school in that moment Haruka appears and tells him that it is not fair that he is only a student librarian and that she also wants to order books, Kotaro asks where that comes from since he never mentioned it Haruka mentions that Kotaro always wants to be the first in everything, Kotaro He asks her to calm down and she replies that it has always been her dream to order books alphabetically and they start fighting while Susumu wonders what the point of the fight is.

Haruka asks Susumu if she can be a library student too, Susumu replies that there is only a place for two people Haruka feels disappointed and says that she doesn't care about any of that Kotaro asks what she is doing in that place to which she replies that has a meeting at that moment **Mr. Mule** appears, Susumu is scared to see his face but Kotaro mentions that despite that he is a good guy, **Mr. Mule** sits in front of Haruka and tells him that he is sorry for the wait and that he brought him what that he promised, Kotaro and Susumu wonder what they are talking about while **Mr. Mule** takes out a strawberry essence to which Haruka mentions that it is a good one.

Kotaro asks him why he is bringing those things to his sister, **Mr. Mule** tells him that Haruka reminds him of his younger sister and shows him a photo of all this, they remember that they do not know Mr. Mule's name, so he introduces himself like Makoto Hanazawa and that her sister is called Ai Hanazawa, Haruka is still excited by the strawberry scent so she asks Makoto if he wants to be her older brother and if he can go to his house, Makoto tells her that he has work that day and the days after that, Kotaro is surprised to see the number of jobs that Makoto has, he replies that he only wants his sister to be able to feed herself, Makoto tells them that they live far from their parents and that despite the fact that their relatives help them sometimes he doesn't want to depend on them so he has many jobs to give his sister a good life.

Kotaro apologizes for the situation while Haruka apologizes for spending his money on the strawberry essence, Makoto tells them that the situation is that and that he can't change it while remembering when Ai told him to go to high school since that was his dream and that even though he would stop spending more time with her he would be thinking about his future which makes Kotaro think about the relationship between him and Haruka, hearing that story everyone begins to cry even Susumu who says that he could not get involved in the conversation since he is an only child.

After high school Haruka meets Ai and tells her that she knows her older brother and tells her that if she receives the book they will become friends, Ai receives the book and they walk together.

## Characters In Order of Appearance

* Kotaro Ietani
* Susumu Nishi
* Haruka Ietani
* Makoto Hanazawa
* Ai Hanazawa

## Trivia

* Makoto and Ai's names are revealed after their presentation in Chapter 5.
* The title of the chapter refers to the characters of Makoto (誠) and Ai (愛) as they mean sincerity and love respectively.
* This and Chapter 10 were released in the same edition of the magazine, being the second time that it happens.