The Ex-Couple Try ███ing (Part 1 of 2)
“Please date me with the intention of marriage.”
Mizuto
This should go without saying, but just as there’s no way for me to know everything that happened to her, there’s no way for her to know everything that happened to me either. It should go without saying, but for a guy whose behavior patterns can be counted on one hand, I’ve been having trouble remembering that.
This goes double now that we’re living within close proximity of each other. My arrogance has evoked an illusion where I believe that I know absolutely everything about her. But just as I have my own life to live, she has her own life to live, and not even living in the same house or sharing the same last name will change that whatsoever.
Let’s go back a little in time to the day after my little stepsister, Yume Irido, had taken a day off from school after catching a cold. I was in the unpopular destination known as the school library, and a girl with black-framed glasses and hair tied into two low pigtails called out to me.
I’d never met her before, but this girl who was almost the spitting image of Yume Ayai came up to me and said, “Please date me with the intention of marriage.”
I was proposed to right next to the twilight-lit bookshelves.
Yume
I’ll admit that I was completely caught off guard.
Yesterday... Wow, it’s already been that long. On my way to the bookstore after school, I’d caught sight of my little stepbrother, Mizuto Irido, at the burger place below the bookstore, eating fries with some girl I’d never seen before!
Yeah, I might’ve run away without thinking, but what the heck was that? A date? Totally a date, right? After all, when we were dating, that was the same place where we... Agh!
Needless to say, I was incredibly bothered by this, so I indirectly began investigating at home.
“How are things at school? You got a g-girlfriend?”
“Huh? You’re joking, right? I already learned my lesson thanks to a certain someone.”
That’s my line! Thanks to a certain someone, I have absolutely no intention of trying to get a boyfriend no matter how popular I am now! Either way, his reaction didn’t tell me anything—he was perfectly calm. I didn’t catch even a whiff of that girl being on his mind whatsoever. His poker face game was just as strong as always; I couldn’t tell what he was thinking at all.
Who was that girl, though? It was almost like she was imitating my plain look from back then... But, uh, what? Is that what he’s into? Hm, I see. I’m so sorry that I changed my look against your preferences.
Not that I cared. I had nothing to do with him romantically. We were family now, and as a family member—just a family member—I just wanted an idea of whom he was dating.
So that’s why I casually brought up the topic to the school gossip, Minami-san, after classes had ended.
“A girl with black-framed glasses and low pigtails? Hm... Maybe it’s ’cuz we’re in a prep school, but there are lots of girls like that here.”
How could this be? There were that many plain girls at our school? It must’ve been a paradise for plain girl lovers! While I shivered from the frightening implication, a wide, teasing smile spread across Minami-san’s face.
“But wow, a date at a burger place, huh? Not too bad for someone as reserved-looking as Irido-kun! He may be quiet, but I guess he is nicer than he lets off. And if you really look at him, he’s not too shabby in the looks department either. He’d steal the heart of any shy girl who simply laid eyes on him.”
Yes, you’re so right! Yeah, I’m sorry I’m such a simpleton! Now that I think about it, it was hard to describe just how easy of a girl my past self was. Actually, no, it’s completely normal for socially awkward girls with no experience to fall in love with guys who’re even a little nice to them! It’s the law of nature!
Basically, since he has no chance with normal girls, he only sets his sights on easy targets. What a vile guy, to prey on these vulnerable girls! Now that it’d come to this, I could no longer remain silent. In order to save other girls from going through the same tragedy as me, I needed to make a move. There was still time!
“Oh, it’s already this late?” Minami-san put her bag on her back after looking at her phone. “Sorry, Yume-chan, I gotta head to work.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll be fine. Have fun.”
“’Kay, I’ll see ya tomorrow!” Minami-san energetically waved her hand at me and rushed out of the classroom, leaving me by myself.
I didn’t have any plans or obligations, nor was I in a club, so all that was left for me was to go home. Perfect. I’ll start thinking of a plan to save that poor girl from his clutches.
When I got home, I found a pair of women’s loafers in the entryway. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but they were still there. A pair of women’s loafers were right there inside my house.
Huh?! I stared at the shoes that were left lying next to Mizuto’s sneakers. They weren’t mine, and they definitely weren’t mom’s either; they were way smaller than ours. Whoever’s shoes these were, they must have been a very small girl—yes, just like the girl that Mizuto met with the other day.
N-No way! It hadn’t even been a month since school began and he was already bringing a girl to the house?! He hadn’t even invited me over until we’d been together for half a year!
Then, suddenly, I remembered something. I remembered the reason he’d invited me over back then. I looked from the front entrance to his room upstairs. There was no way...right? At this very moment, could they be...
Nope. Nuh-uh. There’s no way! There was no absolutely no world where that loser of a guy would make a move that fast!
B-But...hypothetically speaking, what if he used his failure with me as a learning experience and ditched his slow and steady strategy in favor of a blitzkrieg approach?
What if, as soon as I passed his room, the indecent voices from inside would stop almost as if on-cue and then be replaced with the sounds of them hurriedly moving around the room trying to cover up whatever they’d been doing?
N-No! Just no, plain and simple! I can’t stand the mere idea of that! For now, I needed to investigate. I didn’t want to deal with the camera shutter sound, so I started by taking a quick video of the loafers with my phone.
After I finished, I slowly made my way inside the house, hid myself in the bathroom dressing room, and then called Mizuto.
He picked up after a few rings. “Yeah?”
“Hi.”
“What do you want?”
“Where are you right now?”
“Huh? I’m home.”
I tried to focus to hear any background noises that might have been coming from his phone, but there was nothing suspicious. “I just remembered that there’s an errand I need to run, but I’m a little busy right now. Could you do it for me?”
“Really?” I didn’t even have to guess how much he didn’t want to help. His tone said it all. W-Was it because he had his girlfriend over or because he just didn’t want to have the errand forced onto him?
“Okay, fine. I’ll do it...”
“Please do.”
“‘Please’?” I heard a laugh from his side of the phone. “When was the last time you ever said ‘please’ to me?”
“Shut up. Just do it, okay?”
“Seeing as I’m doing you a favor, I’d like it if you changed your tune a little.”
What a rotten-to-the-core guy. Whoever wanted to date him must have been just as rotten and twisted.
“So...what do you need me to do?”
“What indeed...”
“Uh, ‘what indeed’?”
Whoops! Didn’t mean to say that out loud.
“What I NEED is...somen! I need somen!”
“Somen? That’s summer food.”
“What’s wrong with craving somen in the spring?! Do you think somen companies only make them in the summer? No, it’s a year-round business!” Probably.
“Fine, I’ll get it. Anything else?”
After that I just listed off a few random everyday items and ended the call. After a little, I quieted my breathing. I heard someone head towards the entrance and then the sound of the front door opening then closing.
Good, good. He left. I listened carefully to make sure that Mizuto wasn’t coming back just yet before leaving the bathroom. Okay, so the only one in his room right now is that girl. I gotta get in there and talk some sense into her.
I wasn’t planning on intimidating and chastising her for having the nerve to seduce my little brother. No, my plan was to have a civilized chat with her where I’d gently explain that she should be more careful and not just go over to a guy’s house so thoughtlessly.
I walked up the stairs and put my hand on the door handle to Mizuto’s room, but before I could push it down, someone opened it from inside.
“Huh?”
“Hm?”
Standing there was a familiar face. It was such a shock to me that my head went blank. Huh? Why? What’s going on?
“Why...are you here?” Mizuto said, a confused expression on his face.
“I thought you needed me to go out because you were ‘a little busy.’ Why did you ask me if you were already home?”
“H-Hold on, I need to think...”
I repeatedly looked towards the stairs in utter confusion. Wasn’t he the one who just left? I was positive that he was the one who had left through the door just now and yet...here he was, looking at me disconcertedly. But if he was here...then who left?
“Ah!” I rushed down the stairs, running through the hallway to get back to the front door. They’re gone. The shoes are gone! They were just here!
“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” Mizuto approached me. “You could’ve died if you fell down the stairs as fast as you were going.”
“You let her escape, didn’t you?!” I grabbed his collar.
“Whoa! S-Seriously, what’s gotten into you?!”
“You did, didn’t you?! Just now, you let the girl you brought over slip out!”
“Wh-What? Girl?” Mizuto’s eyebrows folded, producing an expression of pure bewilderment.
He got me. He made it look like he was leaving, but really, he was letting the girl he’d brought home slip out! Did he know I was already home somehow?
“What are you talking about? I’ve been home alone this entire ti—”
“I saw! I saw her shoes with my own eyes! I have proof!” I shoved my phone into his face.
“Okay, I get that you saw something, but you went so far as to take a video?” He furrowed his brow and said this in a kind of grossed-out tone.
Stop being so grossed out!
“Did you take this today?” he asked.
“I did, and these shoes don’t even fit me, so you can’t lie and say they’re mine.”
“True enough.” Mizuto put on his shoes and turned the doorknob. “The front door’s unlocked...”
“That’s because of the girl you let run away! I know I locked—”
“Check your room,” Mizuto said with a serious face, looking straight into my eyes. “Check it now.”
Just as he asked, I went to my room and checked it. He was so serious that I was scared that the footsteps I’d heard were those of a burglar.
I walked down the stairs and reported my findings to Mizuto. “Everything looked normal.”
His face was filled with an intense confusion, but I should have been the one who was confused.
“Don’t scare me like that,” I said. “You made me think there was a burglar or something.”
“You’re serious? Your room didn’t look like it’d been cleaned? Were there more porn books on your shelves than usual?”
“Of course not! I don’t even have any!”
But...why porn? I had no clue what he was thinking. Mizuto lightly furrowed his brow and began rubbing the back of his neck. It was what he did when he was thinking about something.
“Can you just tell me what’s going on already?! Those shoes belonged to the girl you brought here, right?!”
“Hm? Oh, yeah,” he said nonchalantly. “I did. I brought a girl here.”
“Huh?! You’re just going to admit it that easily?”
Mizuto turned away from me and began trying to walk into the living room, scratching his head as if he was annoyed. I saw this and quickly slipped by him and blocked his way.
“Huh? I’m beat. I need to replenish my fluids, if you know what I mean.”
H-He needs to WHAT?! In my mind, a scene began clearly playing out where the plain girl I saw back then and Mizuto were in a closed room, doing a certain something together that would tire them out.
“Y-You... Wh-What were you doing with her in your room?!”
“Huh?” Mizuto’s eyes closed to slits as he leered at me. “Why should I have to tell you anything, Yume-san?”
I was at a loss for words. All I could do was purse my lips. He was right. Even if Mizuto had brought a girl over, I had no right to get angry. He didn’t owe me any apology whatsoever. After all, we were just stepsiblings.
I know I shouldn’t care, so why do I?
“I’ll be more careful next time, so let’s just forget this ever happened. Later.” He waved at me and opened the door to the living room, leaving me behind in silence.
But just as he did, he froze in place. He stood still and stared at something, his mouth agape.
My eyes landed on the same thing that Mizuto was focused on. I understood what he was looking at, but still tilted my head in confusion.
Simply put, there were five chairs at the dining table.
“What’s his problem?!”
I had no clue what was going on and Mizuto didn’t help explain anything. Instead, he shut himself in his room without saying a word, all the while wearing the same surprised expression.
“Jeez...” I sighed before returning to my room for the time being.
There really wasn’t anything out of place. Everything looked just as I remembered it when I woke up this morning. Then why did he tell me to check my room? Was he just trying to deflect from the fact that he brought a girl over? Or was there some other reason...? Okay, I need to stop.
I quickly changed out of my school uniform and into my loungewear before falling onto my bed in a daze. My long hair fell across my body, wrapping around it. I’d worked so hard to grow out my hair, but now it was kinda getting on my nerves.
“Am I misinterpreting something again?”
That pair of shoes. That girl who was with him at the burger place. Maybe I was just making a mountain out of a molehill like I always do. I let out a sigh and as soon as I did, a lethargic wave washed over me, and I began to drift into a light sleep.
◇
So, you can be friendly with other girls, but you get mad when I try to be friendly with other people?
I remember the moment those words had fallen out of my mouth very clearly. It was the moment that his usual wall of composure had cracked, and he’d looked at me with an expression of complete bewilderment, like a lost child.
I immediately knew that I’d said something that I shouldn’t have. He apologized to me. He tried to reconcile with me. He confessed his shameful possessiveness to me and uncharacteristically met me halfway.
But even so...the scene I’d seen in the school library just kept repeating in my head. That was the place we’d met. It was our special place and in that special place of our memories, he had been happily talking to a girl who wasn’t me.
I know now that it had all been a huge misunderstanding. Even back in the day, I probably knew that—but I couldn’t erase the impression that had been so deeply etched into my mind. The damage it had done would never go away.
The person I trusted did the one thing I couldn’t believe in our special place.
That impression had already torn apart both my memories and my feelings. Even if he’d had a reason to do so from how I’d been acting, treating me coldly and being so harsh wasn’t right.
I’d always been a quiet person who wasn’t good with words. That being said, it wasn’t like that silence extended to my mind. If anything, there were more words inside me than others.
It was like a dam had broken, and all of the words I usually kept inside came rushing out. And yet...I wanted to make up with him. That’s why, with summer break approaching, I’d tried coming up with various plans about what to tell Irido-kun, but it had all been for nothing. Our second summer break as a couple never came.
◇
I woke up from my nap and groggily sat up. I’d fallen asleep while laying face down, so I’d left a damp spot on the bed. Is that drool, or... I hadn’t even yawned, but I rubbed my wet eyes with the back of my hand.
I looked out the window and was greeted by the dark of the night. It seemed that I’d slept a lot longer than I’d thought. Was it from all the anxiety? Either way, all of this—everything—was his fault.
I checked my hair in the mirror. There were no traces of drool. My eyes weren’t red either. Good.
It was a little frustrating, but I couldn’t let my guard down for a minute thanks to the guy my age living in the same house as me. I had to keep up my appearance. Although, I guess there wasn’t any reason for me to care about my appearance around that guy at this point.
“Hey, Yume, are you awake? It’s dinner time, so come on down!”
I responded to my mom in a still-weak voice, which was definitely just due to me being hungry. It had to be. I’d feel better after eating. Thinking that, I opened the door to the hall, and that’s when someone firmly grabbed my wrist and yanked me over.
“Hyah!”
Losing my balance, my back slammed against the wall. What the heck is your problem?! As I steadied myself once more, I irritatedly looked up at the face of Mizuto Irido.
Huh? Mizuto continued to grip my wrist and stared into my eyes with a nervous look. I couldn’t sense any particular emotion from him, but I could tell he was serious about something. It was the same look I’d foolishly fallen for in eighth grade.
Before I realized it, I was overwhelmed by his gaze, but I was finally able to squeeze out, “Wh-What?”
“I’m invoking the penalty since you broke the rules.”
It took me a minute to process what he’d said because it came out of nowhere. What penalty? From when? But then my mind finally dragged up the recent memory that he was talking about.
He was talking about the penalty from that abhorrent underwear incident. Based on the rules we had where whoever did something un-sibling-like, we decided that we could each issue each other one order as long as it was acceptable in the public eye.
If he was planning to exert that, I wondered, what exactly was he going to ask for? Maybe he’d ask me to not say a word about the girl he brought over. If that was his request, I had a whole arsenal of words that I had ready to give him a piece of my mind with.
I prepared myself for whatever he was about to say, but Mizuto’s request was far beyond anything that I’d ever expected.
Mizuto
There were five chairs set at the dining table. One might wonder what about that scene shocked me so much. Well, the reason for my surprise stems from that very mystery.
The girl I’d been with at the burger place, the shoes that had suddenly appeared in our entryway, the reason why I’d asked Yume to check her room, even why I’d asked her about porn books... None of it probably made any sense to Yume, but it was all connected to the reason why there were five chairs set at our dining table. There was a very clear message being sent.
So, what did I ask Yume to do with the one order I was allowed to give as a penalty for her breaking our sibling rules? Before I reveal that, I’d like to explain things in a way that’ll help explain the significance behind the five chairs. To do that, I need to go back to when I was proposed to—when this all started.
“Please date me with the intention of marriage.”
Just as there’s no way for me to know everything that’s happened to her, there’s no way for her to know everything that’s happened to me either. With that said, let me start from the beginning. I won’t spare any details about the danger that was approaching Yume without her even knowing it.
It was the day after Yume had stayed home from school because she’d caught a cold. I was carefully digging through the bookshelves of the school library as if I were an archeologist excavating some kind of fossil.
The library was indispensable for me to fulfill my life as an avid reader despite being a penniless student. Our school library, which was filled with a diverse range of books from light novels to specialty books, was perfect for this. I became a regular here as soon as I started school.
That day, I unearthed a vintage light novel. The cover was so beaten up that it really made me feel its age. When I checked the insert that said who’d borrowed the book up until now, I could see that it stretched back to the twentieth century.
I was excited from the overflowing history in the book as I moved to my usual spot.
My style was to sit right next to the air conditioning unit by the window in the very corner diagonal to the entrance. It was like a sort of half-hidden room with how the bookcases blocked most of the view of this area. That’s just how I rolled in the library.
I turned the pages of the book I was reading, the slightly tinged rays of sun against my back. I groaned about how the book used a lot of unconventional phrases that weren’t very gentle on the mind, but then suddenly I heard someone standing next to me.
I looked up from my book to see a girl with thick, black-rimmed glasses, two low pigtails resting on her chest, and big, doe-like eyes looking in my direction.
“Hm?” I looked around, but there was nothing but me and walls.
I couldn’t figure out what she was looking at. There was no way that it was me, right?
“You’re Mizuto Irido-kun...right?” Despite being barely audible, she never broke eye contact.
So she WAS staring at me this whole time? Weird...
“Um... Sorry, do I know you?”
“I, um... I have something to tell you.” She began fidgeting with her fingers in front of her stomach. Both her aura and attitude were giving me déjà vu. The unforgettable moment during summer vacation of the eighth grade where Yume Ayai gave me a love letter was just like the situation I was in right now.
Huh? No. No, there’s no way. I don’t even know you. There’s no way you’d just—
The more I looked at the girl who was currently looking at the ground, the more I began to think that I’d seen her somewhere before. Just as I began thinking that...
“Pfft.” She began laughing and covered her mouth with her hand. “Ha ha ha! Aw man, I guess you really couldn’t figure it out. I had no clue when to stop ’cuz it didn’t seem like you were picking up on it at all.”
Her demeanor completely changed while her appearance remained the same. It was like she was saying that she was serious, but I could feel a liveliness from the way her voice bounced.
It was a strange feeling. It was like what happens when you meet a voice actor in real life and they don’t match the character they voiced at all.
“Still don’t know? Okay, then let me introduce myself again. Hold on a sec.”
She looked down, took off her glasses, took off the hair ties and held her hair behind her head with her hand before looking back up at me.
“Heya! Know me now?”
“Oh.”
Of course I knew who she was. I just saw her at our house yesterday. The ponytail was one thing, but now that I really looked, she had the same small frame and critter-like energy.
“Minami-san?”
“Ding ding! Whaddya think? I can really pull off the serious girl look, can’t I?” she said with a laugh while quickly putting back on the glasses and retying her hair.
I had absolutely no clue. Just judging by appearances, she looked like a serious girl no matter what angle you looked at her from. I guess it’s true what people say about appearances being ninety percent of a person.
“I didn’t want to stand out so much, so I decided to change my looks! I thought you’d be the perfect person to talk to like this.”
“Is this some kind of joke? I thought you were about to confess to me. I was seriously surprised.”
“Oh, then it’s all good. Be surprised.”
“Huh?”
“Irido-kun, please date me with the intention of marriage.”
My comprehension skills must’ve been taking a break. It was like I was reading a book with a really bad translation.
“Excuse me?”
“Seriously? Okay, listen up and listen good.” Minami-san took a few steps away from me, looked me straight in the eyes while wearing the black-rimmed glasses, and repeated what she’d said: “Irido-kun, please date me with the intention of marriage.”
Huh? Oh, silly me. Did I somehow mishear her again? Dating is one thing, but with the intention of marriage? There’s no way she just said that, right?
“Huh? Did that still not get through to you? Girlfriend. Couple. Future husband and wife. I’m saying that I want to do all of that with you, Irido-kun. Comprende?”
“I don’t comprende.”
Is it possible that I was just confessed to—proposed to—by one of my classmates not even a month into school?
All right, calm down. This had to be some kind of trap or a misunderstanding. I needed to stay levelheaded and get information, then make a clever decision.
“You want to marry me, Minami-san?”
“I do.”
“Do you like me in that way, Minami-san?”
“I don’t hate you, at the very least.”
“Why do you want to marry me, Minami-san?”
“Well, that’s ’cuz...” As soon as she began to speak, her face lit up and a smile stretched from corner to corner. “If we get married, then Yume-chan will be my little sister!”
No comprende.
◇
“And then she just kept going on and on about the greatness of Irido-san... Kinda like she was trying to pitch a sale to you or something, huh?”
“Yeah...” It was now nighttime, and I was in my room talking to my friend Kogure Kawanami while letting out a very deep and very heavy sigh. “I seriously don’t get it. What’s going on? Has Minami-san always been that kind of person?”
“Yep, she sure has. Horrible, ain’t it? Ha ha!”
For some reason, Kawanami was in high spirits. It was almost like he was an otaku who’d gained a fellow brethren.
“You’re better off thinking that that’s who she really is,” he continued. “She must’ve acted like that at her previous middle school so she chose a high school where there wouldn’t be a lot of people who knew her.”
I never would’ve guessed that she was part of the high school glow up group. I thought it was just Yume, but there are a lot of people doing that, huh?
“So...who exactly is she? You kinda knew her before, right?”
“A person who is easily excitable and seemingly never cools off—that’s who Akatsuki Minami is,” Kawanami said in a tone of voice that was much more serious than his usual one. “Once something catches her attention, she single-mindedly chases it. Once she gets hot and bothered over something, she just keeps getting more and more fired up with no apparent end in sight. She’s like an out of control nuclear power plant with how she spews out toxic substances and just explodes in the end.”
Kawanami jokingly made a whoosh sound.
“Explode? What do you mean?”
“Lemme think. I guess I have something I heard from a buddy of mine. I don’t wanna embarrass him, but Minami had a boyfriend in middle school.”
“Huh?”
Minami-san had a boyfriend? I couldn’t picture that at all. She looked like a kid.
“There are stupid guys out there, y’know? But of course, Minami is a far shot from normal herself. They’d spend time together, and she’d do all these things for him. I think that the guy was down with it at first. The girl he liked—that decently cute girl—was so intently looking after him. That’s enough to make any guy happy.”
For hearsay, this was really detailed.
“Can you guess what happened three months down the line, though?”
“She get knocked up or something?”
“The guy collapsed from stress and was hospitalized.”
“Huh?”
Hold on. She was intently looking after him, wasn’t she? He should’ve been the one who was taking it easy, so why was he the one that collapsed?
“That’s just the terror that is Akatsuki Minami,” Kawanami said in a nihilistic tone.
“You know how if you pet cats too much, they get stressed out? Akatsuki Minami is the petter in that situation. She gives way too much love and you might think it’s cute at first—maybe even for a while—but you end up being killed by that cuteness.”
I gulped. It was hard to believe, but after I thought about it, it started to make sense. If I were in her boyfriend’s place where every last part of my life was being taken care of by that girl...I’d feel like she was denying me my dignity. It’d feel like I was being taken care of like a pet.
“When Minami was over at your place to visit Irido-san, she must have shown a glimpse of that side of her. Anything come to mind?”
Now that I thought about it...Minami-san did spoon-feed her, and she even went out of her way to blow on it first. That was a little too intimate for people who had only been friends for barely a month. Maybe she was a little too into taking care of Yume.
“Sheesh. What an unprincipled chick. A guy didn’t work for her, so she’s trying out a girl now.”
“What was that?”
“Just talking to myself. Anyway, now that you know the deets, do you feel like marrying Minami at all?”
“Not one bit. I’m the type that wants to be left alone.”
“Then stop being ambivalent with her and keep rejecting her. She’s persistent, but don’t let that discourage you. Come back to me for advice if she starts doing anything that crosses a line. We’ll come up with a much more direct plan then.”
“What do you mean, ‘crosses a line’?”
“Hm... This is another rumor from middle school, but apparently it’s something that that psycho actually did— Ah, never mind. Forget it, I don’t want to freak you out. Sorry.”
“Do you get off on leaving things on cliffhangers or something?”
“You’d know if you tried. It’s fun as hell!” He laughed jovially, adding, “Call me if anything happens!” before hanging up.
I really wanted to ask him why he knew so much about Minami-san, but I never got the opportunity to.
◇
After that, Minami-san began sticking around me.
“Come on, let’s get married!”
“I’m a very devoted girl.”
“Hey, come on, do you hate me that much?”
“I can have lots of babies!”
It was just these kinds of phrases over and over with the focal point being marriage. She left no space for me to interrupt or reject any of it. Even though I was just focused on reading my book in the burger shop, she just kept staring at me and proposing.
And then, that situation happened.
“You let her escape, didn’t you?! You let the girl you brought over slip out just now!”
Two days had passed since the underwear incident, and Yume was suddenly yelling at me and lobbing accusations. From what I could discern, there had apparently been shoes at our front entrance that she didn’t recognize. But there was no way that could be true.
I figured that she was probably just seeing things, but then she showed me a video. I couldn’t just shrug this off as a joke anymore. The only kind of person who could wear shoes that small was someone who was Minami-san’s size.
The front door was unlocked, which meant that someone without a key to the house had just left. If that was the case, then how did they get in?
I had an idea of what had happened. When I came home, I went to my room, but had a feeling that I’d forgotten to lock the door. But when I went back downstairs to check, it was locked. Most likely, those shoes were already at our front door, and I just hadn’t noticed.
She got me. Minami-san usually stuck with me as I walked home, and today was no different. She followed me all the way home. If she stuck around, she probably could’ve figured out that I forgot to lock the door just by listening.
It was eccentric behavior to be sure, but that was the only explanation. The fact that she didn’t hide her shoes pointed to this being an impulsive crime—she’d lost herself in the heat of the moment.
Kawanami’s ominous words about what Akatsuki Minami had done in middle school played again in my head. I told Yume to check her room and used that time to call Kawanami.
Kawanami took no time to confirm my theory. “Just as you guessed, she broke into her boyfriend’s room once.” I knew it...
He continued on. “She did break in, but she didn’t take anything. She just cleaned, took a crap ton of pictures like it was some kinda crime scene, and for some reason, there were a lot more dirty pictures on his computer.”
“More? Not less?”
“Yeah. She’s the type to completely match her partner’s preferences.”
I don’t know why, but the fact that they had increased was scarier than if they had decreased.
“At any rate, there wasn’t any real damage done, right? Then—”
“No, there was. She swapped his pillow cover with a new one.”
“Oh...”
I suddenly remembered something that Yume had told me about her embarrassing past. Did these kinds of girls really like collecting this stuff so much? Either way, I had no idea how to break this to Yume.
Hey, your friend suddenly turned into a stalker. Like I could say that! That’d freak her the hell out. But how was I supposed to warn her?
I was so sure that Minami-san had been in Yume’s room, but then Yume came back and said, “Everything looked normal.”
That’s what she said, so Minami-san hadn’t entered Yume’s room after all. There was no disputing that fact. So then where had she gone? She’d gone so far as to break into our house, so what had she done?
And with that, we’re all caught up. Now I’m sure that it’s clear what the scene before me meant in my eyes. Akatsuki Minami’s objective was to become Yume Irido’s family. Marrying me was merely a means to that end. Until she lost interest, she wanted nothing more than to be Yume’s family.
Quick reminder that there are only four people in our household. With that said, let’s look at the scene before me once more.
There are five chairs set at our dining table.
◇
“She crossed a line,” Kawanami declared with a stern, reliable-sounding voice.
I’d returned to my room and was once again talking to Kawanami over the phone.
“Sounds like she hasn’t learned her lesson. All right, I guess that’s it. I don’t want to do this, but I guess I gotta step up to the plate. Heh heh.”
“You sound pretty excited, actually.”
Where did that reliable tone go? I’m kinda freaking out over here.
“What are you planning on doing? Do you have a plan?” I asked.
“Of course. She needs to give up on Irido-san, right? Then you have one hand you can play that’s worked throughout history.”
I had no clue what parts of history he was talking about, but I decided to listen to what he had to say.
“Mizuto Irido, go to Irido-san and tell her this,” Kawanami said sternly.
I severely regretted just obediently listening to him.
Yume
Mizuto’s request was far beyond anything that I’d ever thought he’d ask.
“Go on a date with me tomorrow.”
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