My Stepsister is My Ex-Girlfriend - Volume 2 - Chapter 3

The Ex-Couple Lean Against Each Other

“After all, I am your older sister right now...”

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

It had all started in the school library with a book I was too short to reach, and a cliché that, during my struggle, none other than that guy was there to reach out and grab it for me. After that, we hit it off due to our mutual interest in books.

That being said, the genres we preferred were slightly different. I was a die-hard fan of mystery novels, but in contrast, he just read whatever he felt like. For the most part, creatures known as middle schoolers look down on anyone who doesn’t think as highly as they do of certain things. In other words, they’re prejudiced—which is exactly how I saw his unprincipled reading habits.

The reason I, a person whose heart was darker than any work of Seishi Yokomizo’s, was compelled to write an anachronistic love letter to him was because, as much as I hate to admit it, there was something other than books that we had in common. What was it? Well, it was something partially responsible for why I was in this joke of a situation: we both had a single parent.

I don’t remember mom and dad getting into a big argument or anything. Up until maybe the end of seventh grade, I was living in an average, peaceful household. They never fought, and, of course, there was no violence whatsoever. So naturally, it came as a huge surprise when my parents suddenly separated.

I’ve never asked for the details, but I think I know now that there wasn’t any kind of huge reason behind it. Their separation came from lots of small chips and cracks in their relationship that were only exacerbated by the waves of time. The flames of passion between them weakened and fizzled until they were gone altogether. At the end of it all, they just couldn’t be together anymore. Given my own experience, I wouldn’t be surprised if this were the case. After all, that kind of situation isn’t exactly uncommon—even I’ve gone through it.

This, however, was not something that my younger self understood. I was so lonely that I cried every day. My mom hugged me tightly and apologized over and over again. Seeing her like that broke my heart, and at a certain point, I’d decided to not cry anymore so that she wouldn’t have to keep saying sorry.

But because all of that had happened when I was so young, it left a gaping hole in my heart. The family that was supposed to be there—that I’d just assumed would be there, intact, forever—had disappeared, leaving a void in its place.

I still see him once a year, so it’s not like I’ve completely lost contact with him... But when I do, mom is never there. Mom and dad are still both my family, they’re just not part of the same family. One day they were, and then the next, poof, they weren’t. I wouldn’t call it a stroke of bad luck or misfortune, necessarily. But that’s how this hole inside me came to be.

Maybe that’s why I’d felt like I had to ask that guy whether he was lonely. My voice had been filled with hesitation and caution, as if even the tiniest inflection would bring everything crashing down on top of us.

“Lonely? I don’t know what you mean by that.”

Looking back on this makes me realize just how cringey and childish that answer was, but what was even more salient was his expression—there wasn’t a single trace of him joking around. Not one. The word “lonely” wasn’t even on his radar.

I could only slightly see his expression from the side, but it blew straight through the hole in my heart. He didn’t feel like he was missing anything—he didn’t have a hole in his heart like I did. He didn’t cry out of loneliness because he wasn’t lonely to begin with. That’s why he didn’t need to be held and comforted like me.

The isolation and loneliness of it all blew through me, leaving only a slight tinge of pain in its path. Just like how medicine stings when you apply it, his words stung my heart.

I never asked about his mom. I didn’t know why he’d grown up to be such a cynic. One time, however, after we’d moved into this house, I went into a room that none of us ever go into. It was a Japanese-style room with tatami mat flooring. At the end of the room, I noticed a Buddhist altar—a shrine to the deceased.

◇

The second Sunday of May has a meaning to it that is apparently unknown to most high school boys of the world. To me, it was one of the most important days of the year. In the past, the most important day to me had been August twenty-seventh, the day that I had become Irido-kun’s girlfriend. That’s nice and done with now, so Mother’s Day might have taken the top spot.

“You,” I called out to him in a cold voice.

It was the first Saturday after Golden Week had ended. I’d finished studying for the day, so I decided to go downstairs. Right before my eyes was my little stepbrother lounging on the living room couch, a book in hand, without a care in the world.

Without even so much as glancing at me, he continued reading and replied in an annoyed tone. “What’d you mess up this time?”

“Can you not just assume that I messed something up?!” Besides, you’ve had your fair share of mess-ups too! I composed myself before continuing. “A-Anyway, you’re not empty-handed, right? Tomorrow’s the day.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“A present! For Mother’s Day!”

Mizuto blinked at me in confusion and said, “Huh?” He then shut his book, picked up his smartphone, and brought it to his mouth. “Okay Google. Mother’s Day.”

“Why are you googling it?!”

“Oh, so it’s a holiday on the second Sunday of May...and it’s a way to show appreciation for all the hard work that mothers have done. This rings a bell.”

“Are you serious right now?”

“Can you blame me? I’ve been without a mom for a while.”

“Then do you know when Father’s Day is?”

“Okay Google. Father’s Day.”

“Why are you googling it?!”

I knew he didn’t care about other people, but I hadn’t realized it extended to his family members too. What kind of miracle allowed him to actually get a girlfriend? Hey, middle school self, are you hearing this?!

Mizuto averted his gaze and said, “I’m pretty sure it’s normal for guys not to do anything. Yeah, let’s just go with that.”

“Nope.” Just as he tried to pick up his book and start reading again, I quickly snatched it away.

“As long as I draw breath, I will not allow you to forget Mother’s Day.”

“It’s kinda weird that you’re suddenly the Mother’s Day police. Is this in addition to your role as one of the Van Dine’s Twenty Rules police?”

“Don’t bring that up!” The cringey girl who lambasted any mystery novel that went against Van Dine’s Twenty Rules is dead. “Anyway, it’s safe to assume that you haven’t gotten anything for Mother’s Day, right?”

“I don’t know anything about presents.”

“Really? Seemed like you knew enough to push a Christmas present onto your girlfriend in the middle of the night.”

“Don’t bring that up...” He glared at me while I sneered at him.

We both had certain aspects of our lives that we wanted to leave buried. Mizuto let out a sigh and, at long last, sat up. As he did, he almost hit me in the head since I was looking down at him.

“Get to the point already. What do you want me to do?”

“If I just leave you to your own devices, you probably won’t go out to buy a gift no matter how much time passes. So we’re going to go buy a gift. Now.”

“Huh?” He looked at me like I was an alien.

How rude.

“You want me to go with you? Together?”

“That’s right. I can watch over you, our parents will think we’re getting along, it won’t be embarrassing if both our names are on it, aaand this’ll also cut the cost of the present in half.”

“That last bit is what you’re really after, isn’t it?”

“It’s the thought that counts, not the cost.” Truth be told, my finances were in a little bit of a dire state from all the times that I’d hung out with friends.

Mizuto let out another sigh. It’s said that every time you sigh, happiness leaves your body. If that were true, then he’d have died in some kind of traffic accident by now.

“Forget it,” he declared. “You want me to go shopping? With you?! Ha! Have you already gone senile? You good? Do you remember if you ate today?”

“You are really getting on my nerves!” He was a genius when it came to pissing me off. Fine. If you want to act like that, I have a hand to play.

I went back to my room to quickly change clothes. I gave myself a once-over, and once I confirmed my outfit was perfect, I went back downstairs, returned to the living room, and peeked down at him while brushing his hair to the side.

“Hello, Mizuto-kun.”

“Huh? We just saw each—” He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. No sooner did he lay eyes on me than he blinked, dumbfounded.

I was wearing a dress with a cardigan, complete with a wide brim hat. It was the kind of outfit that a rich girl would wear in the summer. Why these clothes? Well, this was the exact look he was into.

I let out a slight grunt as I thrust my hand against his chest. He was staring at me in a daze; his heart was beating a lot faster than usual.

“Oh? Oh, dear, what’s this? How strange. Tell me, my little stepbrother, why is your heart racing at the sight of your stepsister who’s only dolled herself up a little? This is certainly against the rules, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Wha— Are you trying to say that heartbeats count now?!”

“We never made any amendments that said involuntary spasms don’t count.”

Whoever acted in a way that was unbefitting of a sibling had to obey the order of the other. Those were the rules, and there were no siblings out there whose heartbeat quickened from something as trivial as their sibling in a dress. My lips curled into a triumphant smile.

“Heart rate aside,” I continued, “there’s still the matter of how utterly smitten you look. You really like this kind of pure outfit. Otakus really do have too many fantasies about girls.”

“‘Fantasies’? You’re kidding, right? I haven’t fantasized a single time after a certain someone completely destroyed every last one of my dreams.”

“I haven’t the faintest who you’re talking about. The only person here is your dear older sister.”

“Dammit...” Mizuto cursed under his breath and sat up, doing his best not to look at me. “Fine, I’ll go with you to buy a present. That’s good enough, right?”

Oh, he’s being surprisingly obedient. I thought he’d put up more of a fight.

“Just that good for you, huh?” I said, shooting him a teasing smile.

In response, he just muttered, “Shut up.”

“Hold on, you’re not really going out dressed like that, are you?!”

“What? Why not? Sweats aren’t good enough?”

“Of course not!!!”

I made him change and fix his bedhead. After that, we were finally ready to leave. I thought he’d come back dressed in clothes that were a similar style to the ones that he’d worn when we went to the aquarium, but he ended up wearing a normal shirt, a normal vest, and normal pants, which made for a very normal outfit.

It wouldn’t have been great, I supposed, if he’d put too much effort into his outfit because then people might have thought we were on a date. I wasn’t disappointed, I swear.

I looked up at the sky past the brim of my hat. It’d started to get fairly hot recently. Heat in Kyoto meant a sticky heat, so all things considered, maybe wearing my dress had been a good choice since it had good airflow.

“All right, let’s go.”

“Yeah...” he said, turning away from me and immediately walking away.

It seemed that his plan was to not look at me whatsoever. I couldn’t help but snicker as I sped up to match his pace.

The last time we’d gone out together, I’d been thrown off by how much effort he’d put into his appearance, but this time, the deck was stacked against him. This put me in such a good mood.

“So where are we going? Kawahara-machi? Kyoto Station? Either way, we usually ride our bikes there, so...”

“You think I’m going to ride a bike in a dress? Are you stupid?”

“Yeah, I know. Can’t you tell from context that I’m asking you what you want to do?”

“Obviously, we’re taking the train. Are you stupid?”

“Wow what an innovative way to end your sentences. Can I hit you?”

I was a little worried he might actually carry out his threat, so I decided to keep a slight distance from him as we walked to the stop that would get us to Kyoto Station—the place with the gift shop that I went to every year for Mother’s Day.

Train fare was a little over two hundred yen, but the train ride wouldn’t even take ten minutes. I waited for Mizuto to buy a ticket and then scanned my train pass and moved through the turnstiles.

“Why don’t you have a pass?” I asked.

“It’s a waste if you put money on it but never use any of it.”

So because he didn’t have anyone to hang out with, he never got a chance to actually use any of the money on the card, huh? How sad.

The platform was filled with people. Trying to advance even a little required needlelike precision. Mizuto groaned next to me at the sight of this maze of people.

“It’s packed...”

“You may not know this since you stay holed up at home all the time, but most people actually go out on the weekends.”

“I hole up at home because I know that,” Mizuto said in a worn-out voice.

As always, he hates crowds... But then again, who likes them?

I grabbed the elbow of my now completely dejected little stepbrother and pulled him along while saying, “Come on, stay close so we don’t get separated.”

“I’m going home if we do.”

I dragged Mizuto across the platform to line up for the train. It was like I was actually taking care of a little brother. If this was how it was going to be, I’d have preferred if he were smaller, cuter, and more obedient.

The train came after some time, and I heard Mizuto make a sound of disapproval from next to me. “We’re getting on this one? Do you wanna take the next one instead?”

“It’s gonna be the same no matter how long we wait.”

The train was filled with people grabbing onto the hanging straps. After we got on, it’d be completely full. That being said, a full train in Kyoto was probably better than a full train in Tokyo, since the train wasn’t so full that you were squished against other people. In Kyoto, you just couldn’t take a single step without crashing into someone. Much better. But the look on Mizuto’s face made it seem as if he was in the pits of despair. I was certain that he’d die if he ever rode the train in Tokyo.

We waited for people to get off and then got in line to board. Since we were last in line, the doors shut behind us after we boarded. The train slowly accelerated, making me slightly lose my balance. Right when that happened, he called out to me.

“Hey...”

I let out a stupid noise as he pulled my arm from behind and pushed my back against the door.

What’s your problem?! Just as I raised my head to give him a piece of my mind, I let out a small gasp. Mizuto was in close proximity, looking down at me, and had switched places with me, his arms pressed against the doors to support his body.

He had a thin neck for a guy, but a distinct Adam’s apple, which was currently right in front of my eyes. Every breath he took felt like he was whispering into my ears. Even more surprising was that despite how dead his eyes had just been, he was now glaring right into my eyes. Objectively speaking, he’d just slammed me against a wall.

“Shouldn’t you be the one closest to the door?” he asked shortly.

From these words, I was able to figure out what he was thinking. Is he worried about groping? Really? The edges of my lips bent upwards, and I returned his look.

“Wow, you’re protecting me?”

“Well, yeah.” Then, in retaliation, he sarcastically said, “Isn’t it normal for a little brother to protect his older sister?”

That’s right. He’s my little brother right now.

“Don’t you think you’re being too cheeky for a little brother?” I frowned.

“Cheeky little brothers exist, you— Whoa!”

“Hyah!”

The train went around a curve, rocking everything to the side, which made Mizuto lose his balance and fall onto me. Before I knew it, my face was burrowed into his shoulder, pushing me completely against the door.

“S-Sorry.” His low voice tickled my right ear.

Though I’d grown since middle school, I was still shorter than him. He was taller than me to the point that his lips reached my forehead, so as he was falling onto me, he could probably feel just how slender and delicate I was or—

“Anyway, I’ll get off of you now.”

“Ah, w-wait. Stop!”

Just as Mizuto tried to back away, I grabbed his shirt in a panic. It wasn’t because I wanted to stay like this any longer. It was just, if he broke away now, he’d have a full view of my face...and I would have to be the little sister.

“Y-You’re just gonna fall when the train rocks again anyway since you’ve got sticks for legs.” I wasn’t going to tell him the real reason, so I just squeezed out a believable excuse on the spot. “S-So just stay in a position that’s comfortable for you. Our stop is next anyway.”

“Okay...” His breath from when he spoke caressed my ears, and after that we both went silent.

Incidentally, the train did not rock again after that.

After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived at the station and went straight to the underground mall using the stairs in the station. Following the wave of people, we walked past women’s fashion stores, which meant that the gift shop that I usually went to wasn’t too far away.

Whether it was due to the sea of people or the sparkly atmosphere that came from the women’s fashion shops, Mizuto seemed to be very uncomfortable. Good grief, this is why otakus are useless.

“So, about this present...” Perhaps he was trying to pretend like he wasn’t being affected by all of this, but he suddenly spoke. “What are you buying? You have something in mind, right?”

“Maybe something like a bouquet? A picture frame might not be too bad either. Or maybe a frying pan? She does like cooking.”

“And yet you’ve never even tried to learn, huh?”

“Shut up. Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I have to know how to cook. Get with the times.”

“Ha. I remember a certain girl giving me lunches without me even ask— Ow!”

He was kind of pissing me off, so I gave him a good kick in his calf. I reassured myself that one day I’d get my revenge and make something amazing. Soon enough, we reached the gift shop.

There was a florist across the street that I was saving as a backup in case I wanted to buy a small bouquet. For the time being though, I wanted to check my first choice. I pulled my little stepbrother along as he recoiled from the girly atmosphere, his eyes looking around at the various items on display.

“Hm, there are a lot of random things here, but there are also surprisingly a good amount of practical things too, huh?” He pointed to a notebook on the shelf. “Like this.”

“Nobody gives random items as presents. Nobody except you, I guess.”

“When have I ever given a random item to someone?”

“It wasn’t something physical, but don’t you remember recommending a random, incoherent movie to someone?”

“Memento is a masterpiece.”

“Sure, but why did you recommend that to a middle school girl? It was so hard to follow the timeline.”

Before we’d started dating, he’d recommended me—a middle school girl the same age as him—this movie about a guy who could only hold memories for about ten minutes, but was trying to find the person who’d murdered his wife. Sure, it was a masterpiece and right up my alley, but it was just one example of how cringey this guy had been back then.

“I don’t recommend things to people based on their age or status; I recommend things to the person themselves. You loved The Butterfly Effect and Twelve Angry Men, didn’t you?”

“I remember the movies, but somehow I don’t remember who recommended them to me.”

“Ugh. If you’re gonna act like this, maybe I should’ve just recommended some kinda bright and cheery rom-com to you. Watching you try and fail to keep a smile going would’ve been great.”

“If you’d done that, a whole lot of other things could’ve been avoided.”

I probably would’ve never confessed, and we’d be in a completely different situation right now. Wow, just like a real-life “butterfly effect.”

“So tell me, dear little stepbrother who recommends things to people, not just based on their age or status...have you decided on a gift for mom?” I asked while looking at mugs with letters on them.

“How should I know what Yuni-san likes? At the very least, I don’t think we should buy a gift like this. This is the sort of thing couples buy for each other then don’t know what to do with if things don’t work out.”

“True, we need to keep potential futures in mind when buying presents.”

If there was one thing I could praise our past selves for, it was the fact that we’d never bought any couples’ gifts. It would’ve been as annoying as having to deal with a shared social network account.

“Either way, I don’t really know what she likes,” Mizuto said while looking at the empty spaces on the display case. “But I guess I do have an idea for something that Yuni-san—well, I guess both our parents—could use.”

“Everyone? Mineaki-ojisan too?”

Mizuto nodded. “Let’s put the present on the back burner and walk around. I wanna think a bit.”

We took the escalator to the ground floor of the Kyoto station.

“Oh look, a bookstore.”

“Stop! We’re going to lose all our time and money if we go in there!”

As we walked along the row of souvenir stores, I had to keep pulling Mizuto away from the bookstore. He was like an ant attracted to a picnic.

“What are we even doing? It’s like we’re just aimlessly walking around.”

“That’s ’cuz we are.”

“Huh?! So I was just walking around with you buddy-buddy until now?!”

“You sound happy. If you bark any more, people might mistake you for a dog.”

“If I’m the dog and you’re the master in this situation, I would’ve bitten your hand off by now!”

“Oh, I see. Guess I should be careful when I feed you then,” he said, taking sips out of the canned coffee in his hand before pointing it towards me.

You think I’m going to drink that?! You put your mouth on that! I pushed it away. Mizuto scoffed and then threw the empty can into a nearby recycling bin. There wasn’t even any left!

“It might seem like we’re aimlessly wandering around, but there is a reason. I’m looking for an idea,” Mizuto said as he weaved through the crowd.

“An idea?”

“I was thinking about something a little while ago. I’ve had this feeling that ever since they got married, our parents have been worried about us.”

“True... I feel like mom’s been coming home earlier than she did before the marriage.”

“Dad too. So it makes sense to assume that they have their concerns about a guy and girl our age living together, especially Yuni-san. Do you think she wants her precious daughter to be living in a house with a guy her age?”

“If I were her, I definitely wouldn’t.”

“Right?”

Truth be told, before we moved in, she’d asked me if it was okay that the person she was marrying had a son. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that the son in question would be my age and my ex though.

To be honest, if the son had turned out to be older than a high schooler, I still would’ve had some grievances. I’d just broken up with this guy, so living with a man was not something I wanted to do in the slightest.

But if I’d voiced my opposition, mom would have either lived separately or just called off the wedding altogether. That’s why I held my tongue and decided that I’d wait to meet the guy before making any judgments.

When I saw that the guy I’d be living with was him, I decided to just suck it up because I knew that he posed absolutely no threat to me on either a physical and psychological level. Of course, mom knows nothing about any of this. I’m sure mom trusts Mineaki-ojisan, but she’s still worried about me.

“So I think we should take action to clear up any concerns that they might have. This isn’t something that can be accomplished in one day.”

“Agreed. Stop coming to my room in the dead of night,” I said, staring at him.

“Right back at you. But yeah, if we really need to get a hold of each other, we’ll use our phones,” he said, returning my stare with a dubious look. “What’s the matter? You feeling okay?”

“Yeah... I’m fine.”

Stealthily talking on the phone in the middle of the night? How’s that different from when we were dating? If I said that out loud, there was no chance he wouldn’t twist my words to make fun of me.

“Anyway,” he continued without teasing me, “I think it’s very unfortunate that they’re so fixated on the two of us.”

“Unfortunate?”

“They’re married now, but they can’t even enjoy it to its fullest. They should be able to celebrate a little bit at least.”

“Oh, I see...”

Our parents were technically newlyweds, but instead, they’d been spending all their time on us. I guess it is pretty rough.

“So yeah,” Mizuto said in a calm voice, sticking his hands in his pocket while continuing to walk. “The best present we could give the two of them is time—time for them to spend as a husband and wife...or at least that’s what I think.”

From what I could glean looking at his profile, there wasn’t a trace of him making a joke or putting on airs. He very naturally said exactly what he thought with complete honesty.

I never expected that he was the kind of guy who could say things like this. This is the guy who doesn’t know what loneliness is, and yet he can say this?

“Well, the problem is that I can’t actually think of a good way to execute this. The fastest solution would be to give them some kind of flight tickets or a gift card for a restaurant, but dad has work, and there’s no way we can buy anything like that with our allowances.”

“So that’s why we’re wandering around?”

“Exactly. When you walk around an unfamiliar place and see things you don’t usually see, you come up with things that you wouldn’t otherwise.”

What went on in this guy’s head? What did he think about as he went through life? How could Mizuto, a person who didn’t even know of the existence of Mother’s Day until I told him, think of something this much deeper than me in such a short time?!

He could probably think like this because he actually tried to think things out for himself instead of asking other people. He didn’t have anyone else to ask, so he had no choice but to use the resources he had on hand.

The hole in my heart made a sound, then an answer peeled off of me like a scab.

“Why don’t you try thinking about it a different way?” Mizuto’s eyes flung to me as I spoke in a tone that sounded like I was about to give a soliloquy. “If we’re making time for them to be a married couple, then why do they need to go anywhere?”

Just as I said that, the outside of the station came into view. Through the slew of vehicles passing by, we saw a certain building, the name of it clearly displayed on its sign. It was almost as if someone had timed this perfectly, but it was a complete coincidence.

We’d never walked this way, and we’d never seen anything around here. We had done something out of the ordinary and ended up with an extraordinary outcome.

“Hm, I see...” Mizuto said, acquiescing before checking the time on his phone. “It might be too sudden if we do it today. How about next weekend?”

“Huh? W-W-Wait a minute! Y-You’re not serious, are you?!”

“This is your idea, isn’t it?”

“N-No! All I said was that you should try thinking in reverse!”

“Well, I’m all ears if you have any better ideas.”

“Uh...”

I had nothing. I tried and tried to come up with any other idea, but I couldn’t. There wasn’t anything I could think of that he would agree with.

But okay, I never expected that this guy would propose something like this! I looked up at the sign of the building. The second floor of the store had the words “Internet” and “Manga” displayed in large letters, and maybe it was just my imagination, but it gave off a shady feel. This was a place that people without money used—or at least from my knowledge, that was the case. It was an internet café.

“Happy Mother’s Day, mom! This is from me and Mizuto-kun.”

It was Sunday in the early afternoon, and we were all in the living room. I’d just given her the usual, yearly phrase and the gift we’d bought the day before. It was a modest bouquet that could fit in the palm of her hand, and as mom took it, she blinked and looked at Mizuto, who was standing next to me.

“Huh? This is from Mizuto-kun too?”

He looked away. Really? He’s shy? I jabbed my elbow into his ribs to silently tell him to shape up.

In the end, Mizuto didn’t look mom in the eye and just mumbled a response. “Well... You’re always making lunch for me and doing a lot of different things... This is just a way for me to show my thanks. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

Could he not just say “thank you”? He had to go into the nitty-gritty of why he was thankful? But that seemed to be enough for mom, because large tears began to well up and fall down her face.

“Huh? U-Uh, Yuni-san?”

Mizuto seemed to be at a complete loss for what to do, but I had already had a feeling that this would happen. Even if she had a daughter as old as me, she was a big crybaby.

“N-No... Th-Thank youuuu!” she wailed through her sniffling and crying.

She wiped her face, which was now a mess from the tears, and then hugged Mizuto. He still seemed completely lost, but he at least had the sense to stay quiet and accept her hug.

Mom had never even asked Mizuto to call her “mom,” and Mizuto, being the reclusive, distant person that he was, probably never really gave it too much thought, but I’m sure that mom wanted some kind of sign that Mizuto had accepted her. She was probably worried about that all this time since she’d already gotten divorced once. This was exactly why I’d wanted him to be included in the gift I gave her.

“Thank you too, Yumeee!!!” After hugging Mizuto for a bit, she immediately stood up and hugged me.

“Sorry mom, but don’t get my clothes dirty.”

“I knooooow!!!”

She rested her head on my shoulder so as to not get her flowing tears and snot on me. I had to bend my knees a little, since during my growth spurt I’d actually outgrown her. The first time she’d noticed I’d outgrown her, she’d pouted and said, “This isn’t fair! You’re my daughter!”

“Yume, Mizuto, you’re both such good kiiids!!!”

“Thanks, mom,” I said as I gently patted her back.

If anyone saw us right now, they’d probably wonder who was the daughter and who was the mom. Mizuto, however, just stared at the two of us, dispassionate as ever.

After she’d cried her eyes out on the two of us, she turned to Mineaki-ojisan, who was a little bit away, and jumped to him screaming, “Mineaki-saaan!!!”

He just kindly smiled and comforted her. Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be fine. Just as I was thinking that, I saw Mizuto slip out of the living room.

I thought that was a little strange, so I followed him into the hallway, but he wasn’t there. I looked around and saw that the door at the end of the hallway was ajar. As I tiptoed over, I heard the sound of a bell being gently struck.

The sound was light but long-lasting. It felt like past memories were being dragged back up. I’d made this same sound once before at the Buddhist altar in this very room.

I quietly peeked inside the open door and noticed the lights were off. Mizuto was politely seated atop the tatami mats. Facing the door was a compact Buddhist altar. I couldn’t really make it out because of how dark it was, but it looked like there was a picture of a twenty-or-so-year-old woman on it. Her name was Kana Irido—Mizuto Irido’s birthmother. This was her shrine.

Mizuto just sat there in silence with his hands together for about ten seconds before raising his head and staring at the picture for a while. Finally, he stood up and turned around.

Then, in a voice so void of anything it would make a desert envious, he asked me, “Peeking?” while narrowing his eyes.

But I ignored all that and walked into the room, sat down in front of the altar, took the small stick next to the bell, then tapped it lightly, making a light but long chime. I clapped my hands together and shut my eyes for a bit. When I raised my head, I saw that Mizuto had come back to sit next to me in complete silence, without a hint of emotion on his face.

We just stared at the altar for a while before I opened my mouth and asked in a low voice, “You don’t remember, do you?”

“She had a weak body to begin with,” he said, answering my vague question.

He didn’t respond with a lot of detail, but I understood. He was most likely referring to the fact that childbirth exhausts a lot of energy, and she’d passed away before he could even really meet her.

“If I didn’t have this picture, I wouldn’t even know what she looked like. I don’t know what she sounded like, what she liked, what she disliked—I don’t know anything about her. Dad doesn’t really talk about her either. All I’ve gotten is that my name, Mizuto, comes from her.”

Mizuto and Kana, huh? Both had aquatic meanings: one was water, and the other, a river.

More than a month ago—the day we’d moved in—the first room that mom and I had gone to wasn’t the living room or our rooms, it was this room right here. We had stood in front of this altar, put our hands together, and said our greetings.

Mom had deeply bowed her head and said, “I’m so sorry. I’ll be in your care.”

This woman still had a presence in this house, so that’s why mom had apologized and asked for her permission by bowing her head. I remember Mizuto being there when she did that. He just stood there, emotionless as always.

His name had a part of his mom carved into it, which is why both of our parents agreed to put the altar here. Mizuto himself didn’t have anything of hers. He didn’t have memories or knowledge of her whatsoever. Even so, he was forced to deal with not having a mother...but just how exactly was he supposed to deal with that?! What was he supposed to think about that? Nothing! There was nothing that he could react with, so of course his face had no emotion on it.

“Hey...”

“Hm? Wh—” Mizuto let out a noise of surprise.

I leaned onto him, our shoulders lightly touching.

“What are you doing?” Mizuto asked, unfazed, in a grumpy tone right into my ear.

“I’m being nice. After all, I am your older sister right now.”

“I thought that ended yesterday.”

“There’s no rule that these things end with the change of a day.”

Couples break up. Even married couples don’t always stay together forever. Family, however, is forever. That much was certain. So if he disappeared... If I disappeared... It’d leave a void in the both of us. We’d have lost something that wasn’t there at first, but something that we should have had.

I don’t think he’ll be able to say that he doesn’t understand what loneliness is anymore. Tick. Tock. The sound of a clock beginning to move rang out, and in that dim Japanese-style room, I leaned against my little stepbrother as if to carve my existence into him.

Finally, I was so close to him that he couldn’t ignore me anymore and he let out a sound of defeat.

“Well, these are the rules, so there’s nothing to do about it.” I felt him slightly lean back into my shoulder.

“In for a penny, in for a pound, huh?”

“Are you calling me fat?”

“Heh heh,” I giggled as we lay into each other, and I could have sworn that I saw Mizuto Irido smile ever so slightly.

◇

Officially, we’d succeeded in giving our present for Mother’s Day without incident, but the secret present had yet to be given.

“So, are we really doing this?” I pressed.

Our parents were apparently still flirting with each other in the living room, so we continued to hole up in the Japanese-style room. It goes without saying that we had separated from one another ages ago and were now seated at an appropriate distance.

“Of course we are. It would’ve been nice if we had a school trip or something right about now, but that’s not happening for a while. Plus, if we have to rely on school events, we won’t be able to pull this off without waiting for one of them to come around again.”

“Huh? How many times are you planning on doing this?!”

“Isn’t it better to periodically create situations during which they don’t have to hold back around us? If we want that, it’s better if we’re not home.”

Right... That was the idea we’d come up with. We’d leave the house and sleep over somewhere so they could be alone. This way, the two of them could actually spend time as a married couple.

“Well, we just have to endure it for a bit. One day, they’ll trust us enough, and then all they’ll have to do is tell us to go out and grab food together or something.”

“That’s true, I suppose...”

“What are you being so wishy-washy about? You got a problem?”

“I have nothing but problems! I know I agreed, but we are a guy and a girl... Spending a night in a cramped internet café booth is just...”

“Huh?” Mizuto’s face filled with confusion in the dim room. “Don’t tell me you thought we were gonna spend a night together at the internet café?”

“Wait... What?” My mind went blank.

Huh? Huh?! That wasn’t the plan?!

“Are you an idiot?”

Huh?!

Mizuto let out a long and exasperated sigh before continuing. “Minors aren’t allowed to stay overnight in an internet café. If we tried that, we’d get the cops called on us at the front desk, then they’d call our parents too. We’d be shooting ourselves in the foot.”

“I’ve never heard of that rule!”

“Hotels and aquariums are out too. You need parental approval to stay overnight. But there is one place that high schoolers can stay without any trouble...”

“Really? Where?”

“A love hotel.”

Love...what? My body froze as Mizuto repeated himself.

“A love hotel. As long as they don’t catch you being a high schooler on the security cameras, you’re good to go... Apparently.”

“Wha— Huh?!”

“You wanna go?”

“Hell no!!!” I slapped his shoulder, but he was unaffected.

“From what I saw when I looked things up though, there weren’t any places that had a price that we could actually afford.”

“Why did you actually do research?! You were thinking about staying at one with me if it was cheap enough?!”

“Yeah, in the worst-case scenario.”

“The worst-case...”

What does he mean the worst-case scenario?! I leered at him and scoffed. He pisses me off.

“So I’ve reserved a very normal place for us to stay the night.”

“Don’t beat around the bush. What is this ‘very normal place’?”

“Well,” he said, his expression unchanging, “put simply, with friends.”

Mizuto showed his phone to me, where a certain LINE conversation with our classmate, Kawanami-kun, was open.

Kawanami: Sure. I’ll let you stay over a night

Kawanami: I bet Minami will let Irido-san stay over if she asks!

Kawanami: She lives right next door, so I bet that’ll be a load off your mind!

“Huh?” I shot Mizuto a surprised look.

He just nodded with an unhappy look on his face and then said, “I was surprised too. I didn’t know those two were neighbors.”