My Stepsister is My Ex-Girlfriend - Volume 6 - Chapter 5.12

1:05 P.M.: The Complicated Girls

Yume Irido

“I know I set it all up, but are you sure this is okay, Yume-chan?” Akatsuki-san whispered as we watched Higashira-san come back to her senses and put her cape back on as Mizuto looked at her with a soft smile.

“Yeah, why not?” I said with an ambiguous smile. “They’re always like this.”

“Well, yeah, true. Their feelings for each other can’t grow any stronger.”

I’d felt these conflicting and mysterious emotions many times before. Seeing Higashira-san happy made me happy, but also, I was jealous that it wasn’t me. It would’ve been uncomfortable if I still wasn’t sure about how I felt or where I stood, but now that I knew exactly what I wanted, I could accept those complicated feelings. After all, they were proof that I still liked him.

“You’ve really grown, Yume-chan. It’s hard to believe there was a time you’d get flustered to the point of tears by Irido-kun calling Higashira-san by her first name.”

“Well, it’s not like I’m not anxious about it...”

I’d simply learned methods to keep myself from being too influenced by said anxiety. I had to keep reassuring myself that everything would be okay. Take now for instance: Higashira-san may have been cute, but so was I. Mizuto had shown that he was really into my Taisho Roman costume. So I had nothing to worry about. Everything was fine. Higashira-san and I were on even footing.

“Think you can handle things on your own, now?” Akatsuki-san asked with a teasing giggle, in the sort of tone you’d use with a little kid.

As much as I wanted to say that she was more a child than I was height-wise, I swallowed my words instead and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be okay. So why don’t you go to Kawanami-kun?”

“Why?! That extroverted jerk is definitely hanging out with his friends!”

All it took for her to start pouting and acting stubborn was for me to turn the tables and tease her a little. Despite trying to act mature, she wasn’t able to maintain that demeanor when it came to her own personal affairs.

“Don’t worry—you’ll get your chance. The cultural festival’s just started. Keep at it!”

“What exactly am I supposed to ‘keep at’?! But I guess...if I run into him, maybe I’ll bug him a bit.” Akatsuki-san looked away, but her ponytail was happily swinging like a dog’s tail.