My Stepsister is My Ex-Girlfriend - Volume 1 - Chapter 6

The Ex-Girlfriend Is Waiting in Dreams

“What was I just doing?!”

In what could only be described as a folly of youth, I had a so-called boyfriend during eighth and ninth grade.

The big question is: what possessed me to engage in such a crazy endeavor? I can only say that I was not in the right state of mind. Back then, I was not only a crybaby, but a socially awkward loner to boot—traits that could easily be traced back to my poor decision-making. After all, any normal girl in their right mind wouldn’t have thought that that guy was dreamy, but alas, I was not like other girls.

Allow me to recount a time when my past self’s social awkwardness was on full display.

We were in the second semester of eighth grade. Midterms were just around the corner, and much to the disdain of both of our present selves, the two of us were in the school library doing our best to study and flirt with each other.

After going through the hell that was studying for my current school’s entrance exam, I can say with absolute certainty that whatever we were doing was not real studying. What we were doing was courting under the guise of studying—we might as well have been singing mating calls to each other like birds.

We’d only been dating for about a month, and though I might not have been loudly singing like a bird, my rapidly beating heart was definitely making up for that. This had nothing to do with the location—that’s just how I was back then. Yes, I was firmly in my horny teenager phase. Maybe that’s why I’d made a certain mistake.

“Ah—”

My eraser fell to the floor from the edge of my notebook after I accidentally bumped it with my arm. I couldn’t help but think it was somehow programmed to get on my nerves with how much farther it bounced away than it should have. It had such an irregular trajectory that I didn’t have any hope of catching it with my hand before it got away from me.

I looked under my desk, but didn’t see it anywhere. My eraser was already much smaller than it used to be, meaning my hopes of finding it were slim.

Losing my eraser wasn’t a huge deal, but I couldn’t help but want to sigh for some reason. Right then, though, a hand reached out to me with disgustingly impeccable timing. In that hand was an eraser.

“Take it. I have a spare.”

I, being the ultimate simpleton that I was, blushed and timidly accepted the eraser from his outstretched hand, believing that his words had a deep kindness to them that they didn’t.

Now then, up until this point, I’ve recounted a story that is perfectly normal, and something that isn’t weird for anyone to have in their memories. But this is where my socially awkward personality was about to rear its ugly head.

After I went home, I took the eraser I got from him and...saved it in a small lockbox!

That’s right, the socially awkward girl I’ve been describing considered the eraser she got from her boyfriend to be the first present that she’d ever gotten from him!

Okay, past me, listen up and listen good! No matter how stupid he was, even he wasn’t stupid enough to give his girlfriend an eraser of all things as a gift! It wasn’t like getting a reward for doing your morning exercises. No, the eraser wasn’t a present from your boyfriend; it was just a loan with no strings attached.

However, my past self lacked the common sense to get this through her thick skull. Night after night, she would beam from ear to ear while gazing upon the holy relic that was the eraser she’d received—a strange ritual that I repeated more times than I’d like to admit.

I’m sure that guy was not exactly thinking straight most of the time either, but if he saw what my past self was doing, I’m sure he would’ve run for the hills. It wasn’t even close to being normal. When people talk about red flags in relationships, my behavior was surely a great example of what that looks like.

What’s worse is that even after that, every time I would get something from him, I would put it in that same small box. By doing that, it felt like I always had a part of him around me, even when we were apart.

If my past self heard that a year and a half later she’d be living one thin wall away from him, she’d probably pee herself from happiness (not fear) and die—that’s just how crazy I was back then.

I sealed away that profane hoarding habit of mine along with the small box when I moved into this house, but there was something I hadn’t realized. A seal is just a seal, and things sealed away have a habit of getting out. The socially awkward girl still lives, and she’s waiting in my dreams.

◇

For the first time in my life, there I was, resigning myself to complete silence due to one of the most fearsome events I’ve ever experienced. However, with each tick of the clock, an indescribable sense of anxiety swelled within me, ready to overflow at any moment. It wasn’t hard to imagine that it would soon reach critical mass. I write this account in an attempt to be subjective regarding the crazy events of that night and to rid me of this anxiety inside me.

There was a pair of underwear— Wait, don’t imagine anything yet! They weren’t mine. These were boxer shorts, the kind of underwear that guys wore. As I entered the changing room attached to the bathroom, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. In the hamper, there was something poking out from underneath all the clothes like a tentacle—the hem of a pair of boxer shorts. Logically thinking and taking bathing order into account, these doubtlessly belonged to my little stepbrother, Mizuto Irido.

“And? So what?” I hear you say. “Nothing’s wrong with somebody’s clothes being in a hamper after they took a bath.” Yep, good point. Was there any reason for me to be so cognizant of it? Nope.

I calmly walked inside, calmly headed to the sink, and calmly brushed my teeth—or at least, in my head, that’s what I did.

But by that point, my mind had already sunk deep into madness. I subconsciously approached the hamper, pulled out the boxer shorts, and stared at the pattern on them.

“This is the underwear Irido-kun wore today...”

Suddenly I came back to my senses and gasped. What was I just doing?! Why was I grasping my stepbrother’s boxer shorts with both my hands?! I couldn’t remember. The last few seconds were gone from my memory. Oh god!

I was filled with a terrible fear that made me sick to my stomach. I tried to return the boxer shorts to the hamper because if someone—if he saw me do this, I’d...

“Hm?”

“Ah...” I could feel the blood leave my face.

There, popping in through the slightly open door, was Mizuto. I reflexively hid the boxer shorts behind me with an ungodly speed that I couldn’t even believe myself. That was close!

“Oh, you’re in here? I didn’t hear anyone.”

“R-Really? Maybe you need to get your ears checked.”

It seemed that my skill from my socially awkward phase had automatically activated, and I’d naturally gone into stealth mode. Why?! If I had made a sound, he might not have even come in!

Mizuto furrowed his brow, casting a suspicious look at me. “Why are you standing by the hamper?”

Crap!

He was right. I wasn’t even close to the sink. I needed to think of an excuse that made sense!

“M-My phone... Ah, right! I left my phone in my clothes when I changed!”

“Hm...”

I’m a genius! I’m a god!

It seemed like Mizuto couldn’t even find one shred of doubt in the face of my flawless and logical explanation. He walked over to the sink and picked up his toothbrush.

I thought that I could use this opening to throw the abhorrent boxer shorts back into the hamper, but to my despair, the hamper was perfectly reflected in the mirror. Even worse, this guy was staring right at me through the mirror. Why must I be tested like this?!

“Wh-What are you looking at? Are you getting excited from seeing me in my pajamas?”

I would have panicked if he’d said yes, but fortunately, Mizuto answered in his usual brusque manner.

“Nope. You were staring holes into me, so I was wondering if you had some kind of fetish for watching people brush their teeth.”

The word “fetish” made my heart stop, especially when I remembered the abhorrent item I was hiding behind my back. I was fortunately narrowly able to stop myself from letting these emotions play out on my face, though.

“Even if I was into that, seeing you wouldn’t do anything for me.”

“Thank god for that.”

Mizuto began brushing his teeth, and though I wasn’t necessarily aroused, I certainly found it strange that seeing this guy in his night clothes brushing his teeth was just a daily occurrence for me in this house.

After Mizuto finished brushing his teeth, he turned to me. “So... Can’t find it? Need help?”

“Huh?! Uh, n-no, I’m fine! I’m really fine! I found it!” As Mizuto approached me, I pulled out my phone from my pocket with my free hand and showed him.

My life would be instantly over if he saw what was clenched in my other hand.

“Okay, then you should go to bed. C’mon.”

“Y-Yeah, you’re right. You’re completely right! Lack of sleep is terrible for your skin.”

Dammit! I had no choice but to retreat for the time being. I shoved the abhorrent item into my pocket and left the bathroom with Mizuto before zipping to my room as if I was being chased by something, and shut myself inside.

What now? As I sat on my bed, I unfolded the grotesque yet inexplicably attractive boxer shorts. Looking at them had me unbelievably depressed.

No, all I had to do was put them right back into the hamper. As long as I could figure out when everyone would be asleep, I didn’t have to worry about anyone catching me. There’s only one problem... I looked at the wall that separated our rooms.

He had a tendency to stay up quite late. I couldn’t believe that he had that kind of sleep schedule and had still managed to wake up every morning to walk with me to school back in the day. Maybe he’d tried a little harder when we were together.

At any rate, the problem was that I didn’t know when my window of opportunity would open. It could have been at midnight, or one or two in the morning. Argh, I just wanna sleep!

Sleeping while holding the boxer shorts of my younger stepbrother definitely crossed the line of things that siblings do—maybe even what normal people do, honestly—by a lot. There was absolutely no way I could push this off until tomorrow.

I figured I’d just have to wait, so I opened up a book and sat against the wall, listening for any noises. Occasionally, I could hear him impatiently walking around his room. I wonder why he’s so restless?

I couldn’t be blamed for getting distracted. I was trying to be conscious of what was going on in his room, but I was also in a situation where I had his underwear in my room. There were too many things going on. My eyes fell on the abhorrent boxer shorts that were next to me.

This is my room. Nobody else is here. Whatever I do in here...stays in here...

It was like my heart was being grasped by the devil himself. I fell onto my bed purely because I was tired. It was just a coincidence that his boxer shorts were right next to my face.

L-Look, it’s not my fault if it gets close to my nose— Oh no, my heart feels like it’s beating out of my chest! Am I having a heart attack?! There wasn’t anything for me to be so worked up about, so the only reason my heart could’ve been beating so fast was because of some kind of physiological problem! Maybe all I needed to do was calm down. I should try taking deep breaths.

I began to sniff, but as soon as I filled my lungs with air, I snapped back to my senses.

Wh-What happened?! I can’t remember anything! I don’t even have the slightest clue what just happened!

“Nooo!” I dove into my bed and curled up in the fetal position, cradling my head.

I wanted to die. It was like I was some unpopular girl who couldn’t get any! I was supposed to have put my socially awkward phase behind me! I was supposed to be the girl who stood alone at the top as the most popular girl in our year!

It was his fault! It was all because he had left his underwear out like that and awoke my dormant self from last year—my past self that would revere a stupid eraser like it was a holy relic as if she were in some kind of cult!

I-If he finds out about this... This was a huge violation of our sibling rules. There was no way I could talk myself out of this. It’d be an immediate guilty verdict. I would have to be his little sister and then...

“’Sup, my dear perverted little sister who steals her big brother’s underwear. Speak. What do you want from me?”

“I-I’m not a perv—”

“Oh, really? So stealing underwear and saving my eraser in a lockbox aren’t the actions of a total creep? Then, I guess this is normal too!”

“N-No! Irido-kun, I—”

“That’s onii-chan to you, my dear perverted little sister!”

“O-Onii-chan!”

I threw off my covers as a fantasy began to play behind my eyelids where indescribable things happened.

I-I don’t think I can stay sane at this rate... If this kept up, I would end up dying a mysterious death, only leaving a strange note behind!

I couldn’t wait for him to sleep anymore. I needed to put that stupid thing back immediately! I firmly grasped the abhorrent boxer shorts in my hand and stood up from my bed. Right as I did, I heard a click from the door of the room next to mine.

“Huh?”

I placed my ear on my door and heard someone going down the stairs. I glanced at the clock and it showed that the day had changed. What the heck is he doing this late at night? Is this my chance?

If he was leaving the house to go to a convenience store or something, then there was no better opportunity than now. Either way, I needed to check and see what he was up to. I shoved the abhorrent boxer shorts into my pocket and quietly exited into the hallway.

I peeked down to the bottom of the stairs, but it was just an endless sea of darkness. I couldn’t make out anything at all. Where’d he go?

Step by step, I carefully made my way downstairs. Anxiety gripped my body as I descended deeper into the darkness, knowing that Mizuto could just pop up any minute. If I did run into him, I’d say that I just came out of the bathroom.

Just as I convinced myself that I could play it off, I reached the bottom of the staircase. No one was in the living room and the light in the bathroom was off, but I hadn’t heard the sound of the front door opening.

Uh oh... I heard a sound from the dressing room and darted into the living room in a panic. As I calmed my breathing, I saw Mizuto’s shadow emerge from the bathroom.

I leaned a little further out and saw Mizuto stealthily move towards the stairs.

For the record, our parents were newlyweds, so we tried not to make too much noise. Either he was being quiet for that reason or...there was something else.

Mizuto slowly climbed the stairs and disappeared into the darkness. I had no clue what he’d been doing down here, but this was my chance. Right now, without a doubt, I could avoid detection from him.

I silently entered the changing room and turned on the light since it was pitch-black inside. As my eyes adjusted, I let out a sigh of relief seeing that it was unoccupied. I was nearly free. I walked towards the hamper and mentally swore that I’d never let my socially awkward self reemerge from the deepest recesses of my mind.

At that moment, I felt a chill down my spine—an ominous omen. Out of consideration for her adolescent daughter, my mother had prepared two hampers—one for the guys and one for the girls.

In the girls’ hamper, there were clothes piled in a way that made it seem like an evil altar, and there was something I couldn’t take my eyes off of. I wish I hadn’t noticed that “something” purely to avoid the surprising and fearful implications that it had.

It was a bra. A bra that had to be mine, based on the size and design.

Whenever I put my clothes into the hamper, I always made a conscious effort to hide my underwear, for the simple reason that I didn’t want him to see them.

He was definitely the same way. The thing I was holding had been buried under clothes when I found it. There was nobody in this house who would boldly leave their underwear on the top of all the clothes like this. In that case...why was my bra brazenly out on display like this?

I threw the boxer shorts into the guys’ hamper without a word. It lightly fell atop the mountain of piled-up clothes.

I suddenly remembered something. I’d come to the dressing room earlier today just as he had just gotten out of the bath. He had already put on clothes, so there wasn’t any problem there, but now that I think about it, when I showed up, he had jumped a little in surprise. Then, he’d moved his hands behind his back as if he was hiding something.

“...”

I left the changing room, walked to the stairs, climbed them, walked through the hall, and opened the door—not my door, though. Mizuto’s door.

“Huh? Wh-What?” Mizuto said, gawking at me. “Not even a knock at this time of night?” He was wearing a wool cardigan, which looked surprisingly good against his narrow shoulders. Right now, there were a million words in my chest that I wanted to break his bony body with.

“Nnngh! Nnnnngh!” But in the end, they didn’t make it past my throat.

There were just so many things I wanted to say to him, but I couldn’t speak. All I could do was let my face get redder and redder.

“Seriously, are you okay? It’s not normal for somebody to burst into someone else’s room in the middle of the night just to get all flustered for no reason. What do you—”

“Hamper.” That was the one word I was finally able to squeeze out. “Check the hamper. You’ll understand.”

“Huh?” The expression on his face made it seem as though it was the end of the world. It was very pleasing to watch him realize that his deeds had been uncovered, but I wasn’t in a place where I could just be happy with that.

I moved out of Mizuto’s way as he tottered out of his room and then down the stairs. Not even thirty seconds later, he came back running.

“Y-You...” Mizuto’s face was bright red as he tried to say something back, but whatever he was trying to say, he couldn’t find the words to say it.

I was right, wasn’t I? I had cooled off while I waited for him to come back, so very calmly, I said, “Let’s have a family meeting.”

◇

Since neither of us wanted to have this talk in our rooms, the venue for our late-night family meeting was the living room. Mizuto sat down in the middle of our L-shaped couch and I sat down about three cushions away from him. It would have been too hard for me to stay calm if I was sitting next to him or even facing him, so that was the only real option for me.

“Let’s decide the talking order,” I said in a low voice while staring into the TV.

We had no way of knowing whether our parents were asleep or awake in their bedroom down here, so we needed to keep it down. Taking that into consideration, the first rule that we had made for this meeting was to keep our voices down no matter what.

“Fine. How do we do that?”

“Let’s just do rock paper scissors for brevity’s sake.”

“So, the winner goes first?”

“The loser goes first. Isn’t that obvious?”

“Fair enough. All right then. Rock, paper...”

After three straight ties, I lost in the fourth round, meaning that I got to go first with my defense.

“I had no choice!”

“Keep it down, you dunce!”

Oops. We peeked into the hallway to see if there was any movement from our parents’ room, but it didn’t seem like there was any. With that out of the way, we returned to the couch, and I continued my excuses.

“I had no choice. That was something that a dormant personality did, not me. It’s not my fault.”

“Are you for real? What kind of pathetic excuse is that?”

“My past, socially awkward self just temporarily resurfaced, okay? If I was in my right mind, I wouldn’t have ever gone near your underwear, even if you paid me!”

“Your ‘past, socially awkward self’? You’re making it sound like stealing my boxers was perfectly on-brand for your eighth-grade self. Is there any reason you phrased it like that?”

“Oh...” Uh-oh. If I wasn’t careful, my embarrassing past that I’d kept locked away would be put out in the open.

“D-Do I have to say?”

“Yep. No secrets—both of us. Let’s lay every little embarrassing detail bare.”

I let out a groan. “P-Promise not to be weirded out?”

“I’m already weirded out. Can’t get any worse now.”

“Okay, well, you promised!”

I gave up and told him every last detail about the weird, almost ritualistic things I used to do. In other words, I told him how I had kept every last thing he’d given me, even if it was as insignificant as an eraser or coins, and stored it in a box as if it were treasure.

This was torture. I’d kept my embarrassing past under wraps for so long and now I had to tell every last detail to the one person I wanted to keep it from the most. Could some kind of evil god just pop up right now and bury everything in darkness?

“So, that hoarding instinct kicked in before I knew it. You understand now?”

I glanced to my side where Mizuto was sitting, but he looked away from me. He was covering his mouth with his hand, and I could see his shoulders slightly shaking.

This guy! “Y-You promised you wouldn’t be weirded out!”

“Y-Yeah, but...” He glanced at me briefly before quickly looking away.

Oh my god! How was I supposed to react? Should I have been hurt? Embarrassed? Angry?! With my emotions in a panicked whirlwind, I closed in on Mizuto.

“I-It’s all in the past! I’m not like that now!”

“I know, I know.”

“Say it to my face.”

“No.” He let out that one simple word of rejection in response.

Does he not want to look at me that badly?! Oh, now I get it. I’m so sorry that I’m a disgusting, socially awkward girl! But as I internally pouted, I noticed that Mizuto’s ears were getting slightly red. Uh...

“Are you...embarrassed?” I prodded.

“No...”

“Y-You’re happy about this? You’re happy that I saved the eraser you gave me—that I saved the change that you gave me?”

“Gross, of course not. What you did was super weird.”

“Then look me in the eyes!”

“No!” Mizuto stubbornly continued to look away from me.

Jeez! You’re making me blush now too! I fanned myself with my hand, trying to cool down. I needed to be careful not to give off the wrong impression. I didn’t want him to think that I still had feelings for him—not one bit.

“But still,” Mizuto continued, still facing away from me, “I can’t believe you just came out and confessed like that. I thought you’d just bullshit some excuse and then blame me for everything.”

“Ah.”

“Hm?” Mizuto shot me a dubious look. Now it was my turn to avert my gaze. “Let me guess, you just now realized that was an option.”

“N-No. I-I was just trying to be honest in the name of fairness.”

“Oh, so actually, you desperately wanted me to know everything? We’re being honest here, so why not just tell the truth? You wanted to show off how much of a pervert you are, didn’t you?”

“It’s your turn!”

How could he be so accurate with the wording that my fantasy version of him uses?! Does he have telepathic powers?!

Mizuto clicked his tongue while making a surly face. That was close. He was probably aiming to run out the clock so that we wouldn’t get to his turn. Like hell am I gonna let you out of this! I glared at him.

Mizuto responded by guiltily saying, “Yeah, I guess...” He shifted uncomfortably. “How do I put this...? Um... I don’t even know if you’ll believe me.”

“I already don’t believe most of the things you say. That’s not gonna change now.”

“Your bra fell on the floor, and I picked it up.”

I stared at the side of his face as he spat out that transparent lie. “Unfair... That’s so unfair! Even as far as convenient excuses go, isn’t that a little too convenient?!”

“I’m not lying! It just fell out of the hamper! I was in the process of picking it up and putting it back in there, but then you came in.”

“Aren’t we supposed to ‘lay every little embarrassing detail bare’? Look. If you come clean, I’ll forgive you just this once. So fess up already! You got horny from seeing my bra!”

“Me?! I-I...” Mizuto turned away from me again.

Um... You’re supposed to deny that. If you don’t, then I don’t know what I’m supposed to do...

“N-No, it didn’t make me horny. I swear it didn’t. I just...kinda...”

“Kinda what?”

“Thought it was bigger than I remembered...”

“I-I...” I opened my mouth to quip back at him, but I was at a loss for words.

Argh! Why am I the one getting embarrassed here?! Sure, my chest has grown since the two of us dated, and I’m sure it really surprised him— Wait!

Why did he know my chest size? Why did he know that my bra size was bigger than it had been in middle school just by looking at it? Just how much was this guy looking at my chest?

“Y-You didn’t do anything weird with my bra, right?!”

“Weird? Like what?” he asked, peevish.

“L-Like...” Hearing his tone of voice suddenly made it hard for me to come up with words of my own.

“Don’t worry, the only thing that happened was it had a nice round trip between my room and the hamper where it came from.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“You didn’t poke the cups or anything?”

“...No.”

“Why did you hesitate?!”

“No...” Mizuto stopped and calmed his voice before it got too loud. He exhaled and then continued. “If you want to play twenty questions, then how about I ask you some too? Did you do anything weird with my boxers? You sniff ’em?”

“Nngh...”

I do not recall.

“Get it now? Neither of us is going to get the edge over the other in this case,” Mizuto concluded.

“Yes... I think it may be better that way.”

I never thought the day would come when I’d find myself in agreement with him, but here we were. Underwear really was the invention of the century. Okay. Now that we’re done explaining ourselves, all that’s left is...

“By the way, Mizuto-kun?”

“What is it, Yume-san?”

“How should I put this...? What happened tonight definitely broke the rules, right?”

“Oh right, the sibling rules. Yeah.”

Real siblings wouldn’t steal each other’s underwear...probably.

“With that said, it’s time for the winner to make their demands. What shall I receive from you, my dear little brother?”

“You shitty big sister. Don’t think that I’ll show you any mercy just because we both laid our souls bare to each other.”

Just like that, our orderly discussion devolved into chaos. In the end, we ended our debate by deciding that we could each issue one order to the other as long as it didn’t go against any public morals.

“Mm...” Each time I slipped out of my slumber, I felt like something was off with my pillow, so I’d turn my head around. How to describe it... It felt thin but strangely comfortable. The smell from it wasn’t especially good, but it made my heart beat faster.

“Mmm...” I turned around again, half asleep, and pushed my face into the pillow. Oh, right. This pillow has the same smell as those boxer shorts... “Mmmm...”

Wait. The same smell as those boxer shorts? Suddenly, I snapped back to my senses, and everything became clear. I slowly opened my eyes, fearing what would be in front of them. As I did, I realized the situation that I was in.

I was sleeping on the couch...using Mizuto’s lap as a pillow. His lap. As a pillow. As the gears in my head ground to a halt, the memories from earlier resurfaced. As I remembered it, we’d had a family meeting regarding underwear. But what had happened after that?

I had no memory of going back to my room. Could I have just conked out? I slowly raised my body off his lap and a wool cardigan slid off of me. When did I put this on? I didn’t. Mizuto was wearing this. It might have been spring, but it got chilly at night. Had he put his cardigan on me after I’d fallen asleep?

Mizuto had nodded off too. He might not have been able to get up and leave since I’d fallen asleep on his lap. He must be cold without his cardigan. I needed to return the favor. I picked up the cardigan from the floor and wrapped his body in it. As I did, I heard him mumble something.

“Ayai...”

My heart skipped a beat. Jeez, who are you dreaming of and from when? You’re a little too hung up on her, don’t you think? But, well, as long as you’re just dreaming, I won’t get on your case about it. Heh heh.

“Morning.” Mizuto’s eyes suddenly flew open.

“Bwah?!” I was so surprised I froze in place.

In close proximity, Mizuto sneered at me in a teasing way and said, “Well, well, well, you seem to be in a good mood this morning. Were you happy that I mumbled your old last name in my sleep?”

This goddamn guy!

“Y-You just broke the rule! Siblings don’t call each other by their last name, right?!”

“All I did was say the name of a person from eighth grade. Or what, you trying to say there’s some kind of special meaning attached to that name?”

S-So this is how he’s gonna play it! Urgh!

“Aw, don’t get so red in the face. I’m not sure if you’re angry or embarrassed, but this is payback. You have no right to complain.”

“Payback?! What did I do to you?!”

“Dunno. Maybe you should record yourself while you sleep next time,” Mizuto said in an aloof voice while shaking his head. “C’mon, our parents are gonna wake up soon. Let’s put our best foot forward and be the best of siblings today too. Okay, little sis?”

“I’m your older sister! And I hate how you get hung up on stupid details like that!”

“Right back atcha.” But after trying to provoke me, he tilted his head and said, “Actually, I like how you’re straight up about hating things. It doesn’t leave any room for misinterpretation.”

“Misinterpretation...?”

“We’ve got our own lives now. Let’s just do as we like, so long as it doesn’t cause problems for the other person.”

You haven’t changed. Reading was the only thing ever in your head. Even when it came to dates, I was the one who usually invited you out. I hated that about you. But, I suppose I can admit that you have a point. The past is the past. Now is now. The girl who would get excited over receiving even the most trifling trinket like an eraser is my old self. The girl who was your girlfriend is also just my old self.

◇

With that, our relatively peaceful but also dreadful night ended. In the end, we were just stupid kids doing stupid things.

Now that my slightly exaggerated fantasies had ended, I was on my way out of school. My plan was to stop by the bookstore on the way home, so I turned onto Karasuma street. After walking a little, I found the building that the bookstore was in located right in front of the bus stop.

The bookstore was on the second floor of the building, whereas the first floor was a popular burger place. Both of these shops received decent traffic from our school, and I even saw some students wearing the same blazer as me.

I wondered if I’d ever been there with that guy. Yeah, I recalled, there was that one time when we’d been talking about the books we’d bought in the bookstore, and our classmates had almost found us...but I digress. These were the kinds of thoughts running through my head up to when I was about to take the escalator up to the second floor.

Right as I was about to, a hellish scene was shown right before my eyes. It was kind of hard to believe what I was seeing.

In the burger place on the first floor, in the midst of all the students, my little stepbrother was sitting with a girl with long, low pigtails—it was almost like looking at my past self.

Suddenly the words he’d said yesterday played in the back of my head on repeat: “Let’s just do as we like, so long as it doesn’t cause problems for the other person.”

“Huh?!”

Is that what he meant by “do as we like”?!