The first volume of Brothers Conflict delivers the shocking “first conflict”, the suspicious sight of the brothers, an exciting summer vacation along with a heart-throbbing night, and how the brothers take care of Ema when she caught a cold.
On May 22, Hinata Ema is moving to Sunrise Residence, an elite apartment located in Kichijouji, Tokyo. Her mother passed away soon after giving birth to her, and her father, Hinata Rintarou, is a famous adventurer. Rintarou is going to remarry with a well-known apparel maker named Asahina Miwa, so starting from today Ema will live with Miwa’s children — her new brothers. In front of the apartment building, a young boy nearly runs her over with his bike. Soon his big brother comes to apologize, and Ema thinks about how nice it would be to have siblings. Little did she know that both of them are two of her new brothers.
When Ema goes to greet her new brothers, the one who opens the door for her is Ukyou (2nd son, lawyer), and Kaname (3rd son, Buddhist monk) instantly hits on her. The boy from earlier is Wataru (youngest son, 5th grader), and the man who apologized to her is Masaomi (oldest son, pediatrician). Soon Tsubaki (5th son, seiyuu) comes and sticks to Ema — instantly trying to satisfy his 妹萌え[1] — but luckily Azusa (6th son, also a seiyuu) stops him from harassing their new sister. Tsubaki and Azusa are identical twins, though they have completely different personalities. Ema also meets Iori (10th son, 3rd year high school student), Subaru (9th son, university student), and lastly Yusuke (11th son, 2nd year high school student) — the last one being Ema’s classmate at school. They almost have a fight because Yusuke keeps saying he won’t accept Ema as a sister, but Masaomi calms them down by stuffing candies straight into their mouths. xD The day ends with Tsubaki repeatedly asking Ema to call him “onii-chan”, and she thinks about how it would be an unforgettable day for the rest of her life LOL.
The next day, Ema finds Kaname and Subaru in the living room — resting after their morning road walk. Just like the day before, Subaru is really quiet and won't even greet her properly, so Ema wonders if she did something that made him angry. Ema goes to help Ukyou cooking breakfast for everyone after that, and that’s when Louis(8th son, hairdresser) suddenly appears out of the blue to touch her hair. He tells her that she’s good at arranging her hair, and he also promises to give her a nice hair treatment next time. During breakfast, the TV shows a famous idol named Asakura Fuuto, and the brothers start talking as if they know him. Ukyou starts thinking about what kind of souvenir they should ask Fuuto to bring home next, Tsubaki and Azusa are saying that he’s not good at singing, while Wataru points out that he’s good in dancing. Iori notices that Ema seems confused, and so he explains that Fuuto (12th son, junior high student and idol) is their brother too. “Asakura” is his stage name, and he’s often away from home because of his busy schedule!
On June 22, exactly one month after Ema started living with the brothers, the shower in Ema’s room is broken and she goes to take a bath on the 5th floor instead.
Ema finds Tsubaki and Azusa talking in the living room. They say suspicious things which are hinting about a forbidden relationship between siblings, and this causes Ema to get the wrong idea about their relationship. (○´ﾟωﾟ｀):;*.’:;ﾌﾞｯ Afraid that she might disturb them, Ema decides to leave the 5th floor for now.
Upon returning to the 5th floor, Ema notices that someone is sleeping on the sofa. After taking a closer look, she realizes that it’s actually Fuuto. She’s surprised since it’s the first time she ever saw an idol directly, but then suddenly he wakes up and treats her like an intruder. Even after Ema explains who she is, Fuuto replies by saying she’s so stupid for approaching a guy when he’s sleeping. Fuuto also calls her “stupid big sister”, and Ema leaves the living room in anger. The smiling image of “Asakura Fuuto” in her mind has been destroyed into pieces.
No one’s around so early in the morning, so Ema finally takes a bath on the 5th floor and walks out of the bathroom only wearing a towel — ignoring Juli’s (her squirrel) warning. Just as Juli fears, Ema then runs into Subaru — who’s only wearing his underwear — in the kitchen LOL. It appears that Subaru always walks around in his underwear after training, and today is no exception.. except he forgot that Ema is now living with them. (* ´艸`)ｸｽｯ♪ Subaru turns deep red and only stares at Ema until Juli eventually rages, so she runs away and takes Juli out of the living room before anything happens. xD
During breakfast, Louis suddenly glances at Juli and asks if he’s not talking today.. which really confuses Ema because nobody other than her can hear Juli’s voice. For other people, he only squeaks like a normal squirrel whenever he’s talking. Things are still awkward for Subaru and Ema, so he eats his breakfast really fast and leaves as soon as he’s done — clearly avoiding her. Since Tsubaki and Azusa are still being ラブラブ[2] this morning, Ema bluntly asks about their relationship. ﾌﾟｯ(※థэథ)∵.*.∵ Tsubaki jokingly answers they’re dating, but eventually they explain that they were only practicing last night. Tsubaki will be voicing a drama CD about a forbidden relationship, and Azusa was helping him by acting out the younger sister’s role. xD
Ever since she moved to Sunrise Residence, Ema has to take the train to school. The train is always packed in the morning, so the brothers tell Yusuke to walk to school with her already. Even though they’re living together now, they never actually go to school together. He even told her not to call his name at school, because people will be suspicious if she suddenly calls him “Yusuke-kun” instead of the usual “Asahina-kun”.. but eventually Yusuke agrees to walk to school together. The train is packed as usual, but Yusuke protects Ema from the morning crowd. They’re standing really close to each other since the train is full, and he’s blushing the whole time. (๑´ლ`๑)♡ Ema thanks him when they finally get off, and Yusuke runs off to class while still blushing.
In July, everyone goes to Miwa’s private island for summer vacation. Ema wears a bikini to the beach, which causes Subaru to go Σ(〃д〃)[3] upon seeing her.. then he gives her his parker and tells her to wear it. Kaname, on the other hand, wants to see some skin and tries to take off the parker instead. 8D When Wataru asks why he’s trying to strip Ema, Kaname answers that he’ll wait until the kids go to sleep at night — upsetting Wataru for being treated as a kid. On the beach, Rui builds a sand miniature of Taj Mahal until he eventually faints on top of Ema. It turns out he can’t stand the heat, and he always faints whenever they visit the beach every year. xD While Tsubaki and Azusa are helping Ema to carry Rui away from the beach, Yusuke and Subaru are having a swimming race in the sea, and Iori is studying with Fuuto near their cottage. When Ema comes to approach them, Fuuto says they’re both busy with a lot of stuff — unlike a certain flat-chested, stupid girl. Of course he’s referring to Ema, and she instantly rages even though she does admit that her chest is flat. ﾌﾟｯ(※థэథ)∵.*.∵ Iori quickly stops Fuuto from insulting Ema any further, but since Fuuto clearly has no intentions to apologize to her, Ema storms off in anger before it turns into a fight.
Not too long after that, Masaomi asks if anyone has seen Wataru. He’s nowhere to be seen, so they all split up to search for him around the island. Ema goes with Kaname to check the back of their cottage, and when it starts raining along the way.. Kaname suddenly hugs Ema to keep her warm. This causes her to feel all ﾄﾞｷ(*´・ω・`*)ﾄﾞｷ[4] inside, until eventually Tsubaki comes to inform them that Wataru has been found. It turns out Wataru only went to take a nap without telling anyone, and he’s really upset when everyone keeps calling him a kid.. so Ukyou decides to punish Wataru by asking him help preparing dinner tonight. If he doesn’t want to be treated like a kid, then he needs to take responsibility like an adult. They’re all drenched thanks to the rain, and Ema pulls Subaru’s wet clothes saying she’ll wash it as a sign of gratitude for the parker.. which only causes him to go Σ(〃д〃) again LOL.
At night Ema takes a walk along the beach, where she meets Kaname again. Despite his usual cheerful demeanor, she notices that he seems different tonight.. and somehow she thinks this might be the real him. Just then a big wave splashes onto Kaname, and when Ema laughs at him, he pulls her into the water too. Here, she notices that he has a cross-like sword tattoo on his right collarbone. When she asks him about it, he only gives her a vague answer that pen is mightier than sword.. but there’s something that’s even more powerful than pens or swords — it’s love. As Kaname whispers those words into Ema’s ears, he suddenly pulls her closer and kisses her on the lips. Juli can only rage in the background until eventually Ema snaps to her senses and runs away from Kaname.
At the end of August, Ema caught a cold and has a slight fever. Wataru finds her looking for medicines in the living room, so he tries to nurse her by following the rules of “aegu / あえぐ” (literally means “to moan”). “A” is for “atatamaru” (get warm), and Wataru takes out his own bedcover to the living room in order to keep Ema warm. “E” is for “eiyou” (nutrition), so Wataru takes out all the food in the fridge until Ema decides to share an ice cream with him — though she feels bad for Ukyou. xD Wataru can’t remember what “GU” stands for, so he decides to spin around with Ema thinking it’s “guru guru mawaru” (spin around) — definitely wrong LOL.
Eventually Masaomi comes to the living room, and upon seeing them spinning around, he asks if they’re dancing together LOL. When Wataru explains that he’s trying to nurse Ema with the rules of “aegu”, Masaomi is shocked and asks who taught him that word. Apparently it was Tsubaki, and Masaomi shows a frightening silent rage upon learning about this. xD Masaomi then examines Ema’s condition, but since he doesn’t bring any thermometers, he decides to take her temperature by putting his forehead against hers. (๑´ლ`๑)♡ Even though he's just treating her like all of his kid-patients, Ema gets really nervous because of this, and she accidentally lifts her shirt too high when Masaomi asks her to show her stomach. He blushes too upon seeing her bra, and especially because she goes “んっ…!” when he touches her stomach. (*ﾉ∀ﾉ)ｲﾔﾝ He says she should be okay if she gets enough rest, and he flees from the living room out of embarrassment LOL. At the end of the day, poor Wataru gets scolded by Ukyou for making a mess in the living room. ﾌﾟｯ(※థэథ)∵.*.∵
After hearing that Ema caught a cold, everyone comes to visit her. Yusuke gives her some medicines, though he got deceived by Tsubaki and ends up giving her a suppository instead. Y⌒Y⌒Y⌒Y⌒Y⌒Y⌒(。A。)ｱﾋｬﾋｬﾋｬﾋｬ!! Rui puts a get-well-soon letter under her door, Subaru leaves some ion drinks on her door handle, and Iori buys a bouquet of sunflowers just for her. Juli doesn’t approve though. He thinks everyone has hidden motives, and he just can’t trust any of them. Not even the gentle Iori, because sunflower means “I’m always looking at you” in flower language. Not too long after Iori leaves, Kaname also comes and gives Ema a cake.. but since Ema is clearly avoiding him, Kaname asks if she’s angry about the kiss. She thinks he can kiss any woman whenever he wants to, but he tells her that she’s wrong. He doesn’t just kiss anyone, and he kissed her because she’s cute — she made him want to kiss her. Kaname says he wants to have a greater kiss after she recovers, so despite everyone wishing for her to get well soon, Ema is now really afraid of recovering.
On the last Saturday of August, Tsubaki and Azusa invite Ema to their live event. She couldn’t go out and play recently because she was sick, so they’re hoping the event can at least give her some good summer memories. Both of them are doing an incredible job at entertaining their fans, and Ema feels really proud to have great brothers like them. After the event ends, Ema suddenly receives a mail from Tsubaki — telling her to come to their dressing room. Right after she walks in, a half-naked Tsubaki suddenly hugs her and kisses her cheek as a reward for entertaining her today. He actually wants to kiss her on the lips, but today he’ll hold back since Ema is resisting and Azusa is glaring at him. Then he kisses Azusa’s cheek too so the latter “won’t get jealous” lol.
Looking back at their first meeting, Yusuke admits that he actually fell in love with Ema at the first sight. He first saw her in spring of their first year, but they were in different classes back then. His love only grew stronger over time, and they were finally placed in the same class on their second year. Tsubaki actually knew that Ema will be their new sister, but he didn’t inform Yusuke on purpose — simply because he loves teasing Yusuke. This causes Yusuke to get a strange feeling, and he started imagining various いちゃいちゃ[5] situation with their new sister.. though he apologized to the girl in his delusions because his heart only belongs to Ema. ❤
On May 22, Yusuke actually talked to Ema at school, but he didn’t know until much later that she’s going to become his new sister. He returned home late because he was summoned by their homeroom teacher, and he was shocked to see her when he got home. Even though he harshly warned her not to call his name at school, Yusuke is actually worried that Ema might be angry because of his attitude towards her.
That night, Yusuke goes down to visit a convenience store. He meets Azusa in the elevator, and they find Ema with Iori on the first floor. Yusuke is surprised to see them together, but Iori calmly explains that he was guiding Ema around the area and showed her the locations of the 24-hour convenience stores nearby — just in case she ever needs anything. At first Yusuke actually felt lucky to live with the girl he loves, but now he realizes that he’s dead wrong. He’s surrounded by extraordinarily strong rivals: the princely Iori, the attentive Azusa, the frivolous Tsubaki, the flirty Kaname, and even a famous idol like Fuuto. As Yusuke screams “I won’t hand Hinata over to anyone! I won’t lose!” in his heart, Azusa holds his shoulder saying this is the difference between popular guys and non-popular guys. Y⌒Y⌒Y⌒Y⌒Y⌒Y⌒(。A。)ｱﾋｬﾋｬﾋｬﾋｬ!!
↑ Translates to Imōtomoe. Imōto means Younger sister, and moe maybe means cute (Moe has many meanings).
↑ ﾄﾞｷ is an onomoetapoeia that translate Doki. In the emoticon, is was used twice, resulting to Doki Doki. In english, it means Bump Bump ( a beating of heart).