My Stepsister is My Ex-Girlfriend - Volume 5 - Chapter 7

The Ex-Couple Confer

Yume Irido

The rumors surrounding Higashira-san and Mizuto had continued to spread like wildfire. They’d honestly taken on a life of their own and began romanticizing the two’s close friendship. According to Akatsuki-san, sooner or later, the entertainment factor of their relationship would fade and become just another public secret buried in our everyday lives.

I was happy that things would calm down, though my own problems weren’t solved whatsoever. Everything that had started because of mom’s misunderstanding about Mizuto and Higashira-san’s relationship had yet to be cleared up. Now that the rumor had spread across our school, there was pretty much nothing that I could do.

While Mizuto and Higashira-san more or less were able to continue on and ignore the people around them, I couldn’t. They might not have tried to conform to the school social order, but I did. I had my own standing and image to uphold. I was essentially a public figure, and if there were any rumors about me approaching Mizuto and trying to steal him from her, that’d spell the end for me.

I mean, this was Mizuto we were talking about—the guy whose pride was as tall as Mount Everest. For the sole purpose of allaying Higashira-san’s fears, he wrote a story despite never doing so before, had even gone through the trouble of showing it to me, and went directly to her class to give it to her. That was the truth.

There was all that...and then there was what he had said to her.

“I like you too.”

He’d said that in a public place where everyone could hear him. I know! I know that he didn’t mean “like” in a romantic sense. I was completely aware of that! But I couldn’t stop thinking about the “what if.” What if he actually got serious about her?

His rejection was in the past. There was no room to doubt how strong their bond was. Honestly, it exceeded the level of actual couples. They were so connected to one another that they didn’t even need to confess in the first place. They were that close.

Even if they didn’t think the emotion between them was love, it didn’t change the fact that there was no space for me to insert myself between them. Although, I guess it went without saying that I’d indirectly given them a push this time. Hm? Wait. That’s weird... Ever since I’d decided that I was going to get him to fall for me, I couldn’t help but feel that I’d been shooting myself in the foot.

“Hngh...” I groaned. What have I done? Seriously.

I began rolling around on the couch, groaning, and in the midst of that, I heard the house door open. Someone had come home. As I got up, I saw Mizuto enter the living room, still in his school uniform.

“Hey, you’re back late.”

“Yeah, me and Isana stopped somewhere.”

“Oh, I see.”

Mizuto went to the refrigerator, brought out some barley tea, drank it, exhaled, left the living room, and went up the stairs to his room. Well, it was good that everything seemed like it’d gone back to normal. Mizuto was hanging out with Isana without restra— Hm?! “Isana”?! I shakily pulled out my phone and called Akatsuki-san.

“A-Akatsuki-san! Akatsuki-san! Mizuto, h-he—”

“Whoa! What’s wrong, Yume-chan?! Something happen?!”

“M-Mizuto, M-Mizuto, M-Mizuto!”

“Can you slow down for a sec? I’m trying not to address you saying his name without honorifics!”

“That’s exactly it! Dropping honorifics!”

“Huh? I’ve known about that for a while now.”

“You’ve known about Mizuto dropping honorifics and calling Higashira-san by her first name for a while?”

“Hm? Wait. Say that again?”

“Mizuto is calling Higashira-san by her first name.”

“Wait, no. I didn’t know that.”

“He just called her Isana!”

“Huh? Really? Wow, didn’t think he’d ever call a girl by their first name without any honorifics...” I didn’t either! He never even called me by my first name when we were dating! “So, their families think they’re dating, everyone at school thinks they’re dating, and now he’s calling her by her first name?”

“What am I supposed to do?! Akatsuki-san! What am I—”

“Yume-chan.”

“Yeah?”

“You had a good run.”

“Don’t give up on me!”

Mizuto Irido

When I went into my room, the first thing I did wasn’t change, but pull out my phone. I opened the group chat app that I’d been told about in advance and entered a voice channel.

“Hello? I just got back,” I said.

“Agh! How are you ledge trapping so well?!”

“Lag means nothing when you’re so easy to read. And jump!”

“Agh!!!”

“Why are you guys playing Smash?”

“Ha ha. Loser! So bad!” I heard Isana Higashira repeating elementary school level taunts at Kogure Kawanami, who was groaning with frustration.

After meeting up for a bit at school, we’d all gone straight home. I was surprised that these two were already online. That was fast. It wasn’t clear whether they hadn’t been able to hold a conversation or they’d gotten into a fight. Either way, they’d probably decided to use a game to settle things. Why was I having a conversation with this odd group of people? Well...

“Irido! There’s no reason for you to rely on this girl with absolutely no social manners! If you need romantic advice, I’m more than enough!” Kawanami shouted.

“I don’t remember asking anyone for advice,” I said, shrugging. “Isana was the one who said that.”

“Huh?! Why would the girl you rejected want to help give you romantic advice? She’s gotta be playin’ some kinda game here.”

Isana shook her head. “Do I really seem like the kind of person to formulate such a plot? I am not that intelligent!”

“Does it not hurt you to admit that?” I asked.

“Okay, then what’s going on? What the hell do you get out of helping Irido with his romantic life?” Kawanami demanded.

“Well, please imagine, if you will, that while we are spending time together, he suddenly stares off into the distance and an expression of deep pondering appears. Wouldn’t that bother you to no end?!”

“Oh... Yeah, it would.”

Have I ever made an expression like that?

“So I ask that you assist with his reunion with his ex or his moving on. I will do my utmost to exercise consideration!”

“Have you ever been considerate?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Kawanami added. “You sure you’re not using this as a guise to shoot your shot with him? She may look harmless, but she’s scheming!”

“Why do you think you were invited, you gaudy guy? With you on this call, Yume-san won’t misinterpret matters.”

“Not sure about that. There are a lotta different ways. Like—”

“Mizuto-kun, would you like to begin practice, using me as your romantic partner?”

“Hey! You! Stop that!” Kawanami screamed.

“I believed that’s where you were heading with this.”

Isana ignored Kawanami as he screamed intimidatingly into the mic. She’d be cowering if this were in person, but over a voice call, she was unchained.

“Well, returning to the topic at hand, we should consider how Yume-san feels in actuality. Is she bogged down by her lingering feelings like Mizuto-kun is?” Isana asked.

“Probably.”

“Oh, you’re joking.”

“Oh, you jest.”

“Why are you two so in sync right now?” I exhaled and decided that now would probably be a good time to lay out my honest, unfiltered opinion. “I’m not sure. She seems like she’s interested, but also like she’s just teasing me. There’s also the chance that I’m just reading into things too much. She’s too different from the girl I used to date. I honestly have no clue.”

“She’s totally into you,” Kawanami said. “But I’m just saying this looking in from the outside.”

“Hm... I understand it might be strange for me to comment this way, especially since I’m the one who brought up the subject—but does it really matter?”

“Huh?” Kawanami and I reacted to her irresponsible statement.

Though we weren’t on video, I could visualize Isana puffing out her chest and boldly declaring her next words. “Regardless of whether she is attracted to you, so long as you whisper sweet nothings to her, she’ll have no choice but to fall for you. There is absolutely no room for hesitation!”

We all fell silent. Her suggestion was so unexpected to me that it took a while for me to process it. But after a while, Kawanami burst out laughing.

“Oh, okay! Okay! I get it. You’re right. It really doesn’t matter. She’s got me there, Irido! Bah ha ha!”

“Uh, no. Wait. This isn’t so simple.”

“Please rest assured! I, Isana Higashira, am a professional among professionals when it comes to falling head over heels for you, Mizuto-kun. I will assist in making you into the perfect version of yourself that will have Yume-san all over you! After we are successful, we can spend time together without you experiencing any anxiety about the future!”

“Why the hell would he keep hanging out with you if they got back together? Are you stupid?”

“Mizuto-kun is not as closed-minded as you may assume. Perhaps you are the idiot?”

“You wanna go? Huh?!”

“Would you like to have at it? Huh?!”

The two of them began breaking down into a fight again, leaving me to heave a heavy sigh.

“I thought romance was a pain in the ass, but you two really take the cake.”