My Stepsister is My Ex-Girlfriend - Volume 1 - Chapter 3

The Ex-Couple Start School

“Miss me?”

In what could only be described as a folly of youth, I had a so-called girlfriend during eighth and ninth grade. It’s said that everyone has a past, and even for a cynical but objective guy like me who nihilistically talks about his past, there was a time when I was an innocent kid who didn’t know anything about the world.

Take the first day of my second semester of eighth grade for example. I’d overslept for the first time in years and sluggishly got out of bed. My fatigue came from a lack of sleep caused by an event that my present self deeply regrets and my past self was extremely embarrassed about. If I really got into the nitty gritty of it, the entire situation was the result of something that had happened the day before.

Yume Ayai had confessed to me. I read the love letter that she’d handed me and gave her my answer on the spot. Maybe it’d be better to say that I regrettably gave her my answer on the spot instead, but either way, from that day onward, I officially had a girlfriend—my first girlfriend ever.

Therefore, one could say that my resulting reaction that night was perfectly natural. No matter how elated I was, how excited I was, or how much I wriggled around on my bed for no particular reason until the sun came up, it was all perfectly natural. I definitely hadn’t spent all that time daydreaming and ended up forgetting to actually go to sleep and dream for real.

No, I simply lost precious sleep due to perfectly natural, physiological reasons. Damn you, Ayai.

Anyway. It was the first morning of my life that I woke up having a girlfriend. It was also the one and only first day of my second semester of eighth grade. I hurriedly got my things together and left the house. I didn’t rush out of worry for being late to the commencement ceremony, but because I was meeting up with someone.

There, waiting on the street to school that would eventually become the location of our first kiss, was a long-haired girl with a small frame holding her school bag in front of her knees. It was Yume Ayai, my girlfriend.

“S-Sorry, I overslept!” I stammered.

“I-It’s okay. We still have time.”

Back then, Ayai wasn’t good at expressing herself. Even when she talked to me, her words were shaky at best. Just thinking about how she went from that to her current foulmouthed self vexes me to no end, but let’s leave it at that and move on for now.

“Did you...have trouble sleeping last night?” Ayai glanced up at my face with a gentle, sheepish smile.

“Yeah, well...kinda...”

“Oh, I see...” Ayai twirled her long bangs with her finger, her cheeks tinged a faint pink, as she averted her gaze. Then, in a voice so quiet that the wind could have blown it away, she said, “I-I couldn’t sleep at all last night, myself...”

My past self, being the fool that he was, could not handle those words. His heart beat out of his chest, his speech skills suddenly grew five times worse than Ayai’s, and his movements became as rigid as a robot that hadn’t been oiled.

We continued walking to school side by side while holding a “conversation” consisting of umms and uhhs. We were only about half a step apart from one another—close enough that our hands were just barely not touching.

Is it okay to hold hands? We are dating, but maybe it’s too early. We just got together yesterday. Past me might have been considering it at the time, but holding hands would’ve been way too much for a dumbass virgin like him who, until literally one day before, deeply treasured the memory of when his fingers lightly brushed against Ayai’s.

Before we knew it, we were about fifty meters away from school and were starting to see more and more students. I knew that this meant our time walking together was, regrettably, about to come to an end. While my past self might have been filled with disappointment, my present self could only laugh in delight. Ha ha ha, I hope your life ends too!

“Um, l-let’s stop here... I-It’s too embarrassing to go to the classroom together...” Ayai said, trailing off.

“Huh?”

My luck ran out when past me made the mistake of thinking that her embarrassment was cute. It was right then that we decided not to divulge our relationship to anyone. If we’d boldly walked into the classroom together—if we’d made a big deal about us dating—maybe I wouldn’t have become so possessive over her, and maybe Ayai wouldn’t have lodged those ridiculous accusations at me. Maybe we wouldn’t have ever even broken up, but hindsight is twenty-twenty.

Ayai was not a girl who could leap through time like Kazuko Yoshiyama, nor was I a guy who could go back and redo events from zero like Subaru Natsuki. The best we could do was play a game of what-ifs where we fantasized about how things could’ve played out differently.

Actually, let’s play that game. What if, on that day, Ayai and I had walked all the way to the classroom together? Even for a cynical but objective guy like myself, I never thought that the day would come where that exact situation would play out.

◇

The curtain was finally closing on the spring break before tenth grade—the most annoying period of my life I’ve ever had to endure. I wanted to jump for joy in celebration, but the curtain rose on a massive, brand-new problem that stood in my way.

“...”

“...”

I ran into my little stepsister as she was leaving the bathroom, leading to an instant silent glaring contest between the two of us, the subject of which was the uniforms we were wearing. The navy-blue blazer was of a plain design and gave off an impression of seriousness. The necktie (or bow for other students) was red, the color for first-year students. In short, we were both wearing the same high school uniform.

Some god of tragedy out there must have had a hand in creating this trap, which was second only to the trap that had made the two of us siblings.

The relationship between the two of us had become completely messed up by the time we began seriously studying for high school entrance exams last fall. Of course, we’d never even asked each other about what school we planned on attending. If anything, I wanted to try avoiding going to the same school as her, so I put a private prep school that nobody from our middle school had ever gotten into as my first choice.

It’d be difficult for my dad to pay for this school as a single parent, but as long as I scored high enough on the special admissions test, I could get a scholarship, and it wouldn’t be a problem.

After hearing that Yume was also living with a single parent, I figured that she’d be in the same boat as me. With the test being as hard as it was, though, I was convinced that even if she passed, she wouldn’t get a high enough score to afford it. With that in mind, I studied my ass off and was spectacularly accepted as a scholarship student...and so was Yume.

This girl had the same exact idea as me. She devoted herself to studying so that she could get accepted to this school—a school that she was sure I wouldn’t be able to get into. As a result, our middle school had not one, but two students who received one of the few special admission spots for this high school.

Wow, amazing.

We were both called to the staff room and told that we were the pride of the school. Though our achievements were celebrated, nobody could have guessed how depressing this news was to us. Truthfully, we were in more shock than if we hadn’t been accepted—so much shock that all we could do was sit there and politely smile.

There must have been countless couples that studied so that they could go to the same school, but I would bet that we were the only couple that studied so that we wouldn’t go to the same school and then ended up at the same school anyway. What were the odds? Probably something like a billion to one. Whatever god set us up like this can go straight to hell!

But really, we only had ourselves to blame for being idiots and not trying to get more information before making our decisions. Now, thanks to such idiocy, we arrived at the present situation that we had strove so much to avoid where we were wearing the same high school uniform as each other.

“That uniform does not look good on you,” Yume said in a cold voice, throwing me a dark look.

“Have you looked in a mirror? That pleated skirt looks especially bad on you,” I replied in an even colder voice, throwing her an even darker look.

“Don’t you know? Most school uniforms have a pleated skirt.”

“Sorry, I misspoke. I meant you’re not pulling off the high school girl look.”

“Oh, is that right? Well, you’re not pulling off the human look.”

“You’re not suited for earth!” I said angrily.

“Well, you’re not suited for the solar system!” she quipped back.

“Oh yeah? Well, you’re not suited for the Milky—”

We continued escalating our back-and-forth of “what we’re not suited for” to the galaxy, the third dimension, and reality in general, but we were cut short when a woman called out from the living room, stopping us in our tracks.

“Oh, you two! You look so good in those uniforms!” It was my stepmother, Yuni-san. In her usual animated fashion, she forced the two of us who were secretly at each other’s throats to stand next to each other while happily nodding her youthful face with approval. “Prep school uniforms really are different, huh? You two must have worked so hard to have gotten accepted into such a difficult school! But I guess it’s nothing too surprising for my children!”

Though the two of us may have been trashing each other for how we looked in our uniforms, there was a line we wouldn’t cross—we would never tell the other to go to a different school.

The reason for that was because our parents were extremely happy about our acceptance. Yume and I came from a similar family background, so we had an instinctual mutual understanding that our school situation was off-limits.

“Oh, I know! Let’s take a picture! Come on, you two, get closer together.”

You’re kidding me, right? As much as I wanted to say that out loud, who was I, a mere stepson, to stand in the way of the happiness of my stepmother who looked so giddy as she positioned her phone to take a picture? It seemed that her biological daughter, Yume, was also thinking the same thing.

We stood next to each other and froze our faces into smiles as she took our picture. Not to stroke my own ego, but I was getting very good at faking smiles. To paraphrase Dostoevsky, man truly was a creature that could get accustomed to anything. Just as I was thinking this, I was sucker punched by what Yuni-san said next.

“Heh heh, you two almost look like a couple.”

My heart felt like it was about to stop. Oh no, am I keeping a straight face?

“Oh, mom, you know we just met, don’t you?” Yume scoffed while kicking me in the shin.

Was I not keeping a straight face?!

“But think about it. You take after me, and Mizuto-kun takes after Mine-kun, right? We probably looked like you two when we were in high school.”

The “Mine-kun” she referred to was my father, whose full name was Mineaki Irido.

“Don’t use your children to brag about your love life. Also, I don’t think I really take after you at all, mom.”

“Heh heh, sorry. Do you two mind waiting in the car for a little? We’ll join you after we take care of a few things,” Yuni-san said before returning to the living room.

Today was the entrance ceremony—an event for freshmen and their guardians, which meant that dad and Yuni-san were coming to school with us. We both knew what this would mean for us.

Yume let out a sigh, and I quickly snapped at her. “Don’t sigh. You’re gonna make me sigh.”

“How can’t I? If we weren’t siblings, I could just pretend that we were strangers who were accepted to the same school. I’d be able to pretend to not know you.”

There was nobody at this high school who knew us, so it would’ve been easy to do that. But unfortunately, we were siblings with the same parents, we were being driven in the same car, and we were going to the same school together. There was no avoiding any of that. It’d be practically impossible to pretend that we didn’t know each other.

“All right, see you two later!”

“Mizuto, make some friends, okay?”

After going through the usual formalities like taking a picture at the school gate, Yume and I parted with our parents. We headed off to our classroom to meet our classmates and homeroom teacher.

We were notified of our class assignments ahead of time and, naturally, Yume and I ended up in the same class (1-7). Apparently, they separated students into classes depending on their grade on the entrance exam and didn’t really take family into account whatsoever. I couldn’t even sigh about this.

Now that our parents were gone, Yume stretched and then said, “You shitty bookworm.”

“You shitty mystery fangirl.”

“String bean.”

“Shrimp.”

“How?! I’m not that short anymore!” Yume protested.

“In my mind, you’ll always be a shrimp.”

We were finally free to release all the insults that had been building up inside of us. We had to, or else we would inevitably explode.

We entered the school and headed towards our classroom.

“So, what do we do?” I asked.

“About?”

“Do we walk into the classroom together?”

“They’re gonna find out we’re related when they see our last names. Let’s just get it over with,” she proposed.

“I can’t believe you’re the same person who used to be so embarrassed about people seeing us together,” I said, surprised.

“Did you say something?”

“Nope.”

She had a point. Trying to dance around the truth would most likely backfire on us. That’s why, when we arrived at the entrance to our classroom, we boldly entered together, catching the attention of the twenty or so students already in the classroom who seemed eager to determine their friends.

According to the paper taped to the blackboard, my seat was in the front, next to the window. Of course, since Yume and I are siblings, our seats were right by each other, with her sitting behind me because alphabetically, “Mizuto” came before “Yume.” I had a bad feeling about her seat being behind mine, but for the time being, I sat down.

Bang.

“Ow!”

My chair was kicked from behind me. I expected as much, but seriously?! I turned around to glare at the perpetrator who was now staring indifferently out the window. This girl...

It’d probably be at least another month until our seats were changed, so until then, I’d need to constantly watch my back while in class. I was at a clear disadvantage. I needed to come up with a counter strategy, and fast.

Then, there were our classmates who were observing us from afar.

“Is this really the time to be kicking my chair?” I asked.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Yume said, playing dumb.

“You should be pulling out all the stops to make friends. Wouldn’t you agree, Ms. High School Glow Up?”

“‘High School Glow Up’?!”

She might have been plainer than yogurt when we graduated middle school, but you couldn’t tell that by looking at her now. She had grown both physically and mentally. Basically, she was completely different from the Yume Ayai who gave me that love letter at the end of summer break, and now she’d entered a high school where she didn’t know anyone but me. If this isn’t the epitome of a glow up, I don’t know what is.

“You needn’t worry yourself, Mizuto-kun,” Yume said with a devilish smile. “After all, I’ve come prepared with the perfect tool.”

“Which middle school did you go to, Irido-san?”

“It was just a local public school—nothing too noteworthy,” Yume replied.

“What do you do for fun?”

“Reading, I suppose. Sorry it’s nothing too interesting,” Yume apologized.

“You had the highest score on the entrance exam, right?! How much did you study?”

“As much as I’d like to say that I didn’t spend too much time studying, I spent every last waking hour and every spare minute studying. I still can’t shake this feeling of freedom after studying so hard for it.”

I heard the loud noise of laughter behind me. Day one of school: Yume Irido has ascended to the very top of the class hierarchy.

After the entrance ceremony ended, we returned to our classroom and had a simple homeroom. And once that was over, the classmates who had kept their distance until now swarmed around her like bees to honey.

Yume put her so-called “perfect tool” to use during the entrance ceremony. What was that “perfect tool,” one might ask? Well, this girl was the freshman representative. Another way of putting it was that she had absolute proof that she was the top student of our freshman class.

In a prep school where grades were everything, that proof endowed her with a very powerful status. Yume Irido was not a peasant that had to put in the effort to make friends. All she had to do was wait for them to flock to her.

But her status didn’t bother me one bit; her grades on the other hand... Dammit! How did she score higher than me?! Goddammit!

Her title as “freshman representative” was such a bright point that it completely overshadowed the fact that we had the same last name. That worked for me, though.

I got out of my seat after practically being forced out by the growing group surrounding her desk. Both the entrance ceremony and homeroom were over, so I no longer had any reason to stay at school. I decided to say hi to our parents and then hurry home. After all, it wasn’t like I had to go home at the same time as this girl. We weren’t dating or anything.

For a second, I thought I felt Yume glance at me, but it must have been my imagination.

Hmph. Looks like you’ll be able to make a lot of friends. How nice.

◇

After getting home, I holed up in my room and read a book. Before I knew it, the sun had set and it was night. Feeling thirsty, I decided to go get something to drink, and just as I was walking down the stairs, the front door opened.

“I’m home.” It was Yume. By herself.

Our parents had been home for a while after our commencement ceremony that had ended hours ago. According to them, Yume went out with some classmates to have a get-together.

It really did seem like her glow up was working out for her. It was hard to believe that this was the same girl that couldn’t find a partner in gym class.

Yume walked through the hall without saying a word, but when she passed me, she shot me a smug look. “Miss me?” she asked, letting out an annoying giggle.

“Huh?” I furrowed my brow at her, not remotely amused.

“I’m so sorry. I just simply don’t have any time to give you attention anymore.”

“Whatever. Don’t change anything on my account. Have fun when your phone starts blowing up with LINE messages.”

“Why yes, I think I will,” she said shortly before walking up the stairs.

Dammit. Why did she have to brag about her win like this? Furthermore, there was no reason why I would miss her whatsoever. Why would she even ask that?

◇

The next morning came, and I still couldn’t accept the reality of the situation.

“Irido! What middle school did you go to?”

“Uh, just your run of the mill public school,” I replied.

“Got any interests? You play any games?”

“Games? Not really...”

“How was the entrance exam? I bet it was easy. You are her brother after all!”

“Yeah, I think I did all right on it...”

What the hell? Why am I the one being surrounded now? This was a paranormal phenomenon. I came to school normally, and suddenly, this. Also, word had spread that Yume and I were stepsiblings. Did she tell everyone during the get-together or whatever she went to yesterday?!

That being said, though... The last time I was surrounded by this many people was in the maternity room when my mom gave birth to me. There were even more guys around me right now than there had been maternity nurses or doctors around my mom back then.

My head was spinning from the torrent of questions that were flooding in one after another. How was that girl able to deal with this torturous interrogation without breaking a sweat? What was she, some kind of trained spy?

As I started crumbling to pieces, Yume, who had chosen to come to school at a different time than me, walked in. She greeted the girls and raised an eyebrow after seeing the crowd around me.

She walked to her seat behind me, put her bag down, sat down, and then...

Bang!

She kicked my chair. Why?! This must have been what it meant to be kicked and shoved around.

Maybe it was because we were at a prep school, but our first day of classes was not easy whatsoever. While most classes would just use the first day for orientation, we had real classes too—six full periods worth of them. But honestly, this was heaven compared to the hellish bombardment of questions I’d had to endure. I love classes!

As soon as lunchtime came around, I slipped out of the classroom and ran away. It was only after class had started that I discovered that more than half of the people who had interrogated me were from different classes. If they wanted to swarm me, they wouldn’t be able to do so immediately. I saw my window of opportunity and took it.

I shut myself in a bathroom stall so that I could wait until things had calmed down. The toilet was a clean Western-style toilet, and it was much more comfortable than I expected. Private schools are amazing.

But seriously, what had I done to become so popular all of a sudden? It’s not like I was trending on Twitter or anything. Was there something about me that was making me popular? The only thing I could come up with was the fact that I was the stepbrother of Yume Irido.

“Hey, you going there to have lunch too?”

“Yeah! I wanna get closer to her!”

I heard these voices from outside the stall I was in. Here I thought that only girls gossip in the bathroom. Color me surprised.

“Oh yeah, that girl is so cute, and she’s top of our grade. How perfect can someone be?”

“Yeah, seriously! It was love at first sight when I saw that picture that’s been going around on LINE.”

Wait...top of our grade? Are they talking about that girl? They should get their eyes checked if they think she’s cute.

“So that’s why you’ve been trying to get close to her little brother? Just talk to her!”

“Nah, that’ll just get on her nerves. But if I use her brother, it’ll be a lot smoother, don’t you think?”

Huh?

“There’s a lot of guys who’ve got the same idea, though.”

“Isn’t her little brother kinda gloomy? Doesn’t really strike me as a guy who’s easy to get along with.”

“Maybe you’re just a pain in the ass.”

“Ah, screw you too, man. Ha ha ha!”

Oh, mystery solved. Basically, I was just a stepping stone for them to get closer to Yume with their impure intentions. Well, well, well. I left the bathroom stall I was in.

“Wha—”

“Scared the crap out of me!”

I ignored the two of them and left the bathroom.

“Wait, wasn’t that...”

“Ah—”

As I walked through the hallway, a number of guys walked up to me, or rather, tried cozying up to me. They excitedly tried to talk to me, but I just responded uninterestedly without giving it too much thought. If they were all genuinely trying to be my friend, I wouldn’t mind trying to be a little serious with my responses, but since they weren’t, there was no point in running away and hiding anymore.

◇

Later that night after I finished dinner, I took my dishes to the sink to wash them. Yume had apparently finished eating as well and was standing next to me at the sink. For a while, the only sound between us was the running of the water, but eventually, Yume spoke in what was practically a whisper.

“Aren’t you mad?”

“About what?”

“You know what.” She furrowed her brow in annoyance.

“You mean about the swarm of people?”

“Yeah.”

Word really travels fast among girls.

“They’re taking you for a fool,” she continued.

“Definitely.”

“They don’t have the courage to speak to me directly, so they’re trying to use you since you don’t seem threatening. But when things don’t go their way, they just make stuff up about you. I don’t like that at all.”

“I don’t really care how you feel. As long as you don’t date them, it doesn’t really matter what they do. It’s a high-risk, low-return situation. You’re smart enough to know that it’s not worth the trouble.”

“Don’t you care what happens to you?! You’re—” Yume started to get very heated, but she shut her mouth before saying any more. She’d completely stopped washing the dishes, as had I, but the water from the faucet continued to run.

“I’m what?” I asked quietly.

Yume froze in place for a moment, but after a while, she began scrubbing the dishes again with the sponge. “Forget it.”

◇

It was now the morning of our third day as high schoolers. Yume and I had decided yesterday that we’d go to school at different times, but that decision didn’t last a day.

“Let’s go to school together today, Mizuto-kun,” Yume said in a kind voice.

Gross. This thought reflexively popped in my head, but I couldn’t very well have said it out loud. Especially not with our parents both right in front of us, sitting here at the dining table.

“You two really are such good friends!”

“Ha ha ha, I hope she’s teaching you how to treat a girl well, Mizuto.”

Yume just smiled in response to their comments. Obviously, she had asked me because she knew full well that I couldn’t refuse in front of our parents. What are you playing at? I shot her a gaze of distrust, but it was promptly reflected by her perfectly constructed smile.

Just like that, we left the house together. As we walked to school, I kept glaring at her in an effort to figure out what her plan was, but her face was calm and collected and showed no traces of trickery. What are you thinking?

There were only fifty meters until the school gate. We were beginning to see more and more students, and I was still feeling very uncertain about this entire situation. Even back in the day, this was as far as we’d go before we would break off to go in separately.

I had no idea why she proposed that we go to school together, but there was no way that she did that with the intention of us walking all the way to the classroom buddy-buddy. Right about now, she’ll— But my thoughts soon came to a screeching halt. Why? I’d love to know the reason, myself. I’d love to know why this girl just smoothly wrapped her arms around one of mine!

“Wh-What are you doing?!”

“Shut up,” she said in a whisper while continuing to walk with me, holding on to my arm. The only option left to me was to be dragged along by her like this. I could feel people’s gazes. Duh. The freshman rep—the talk of the school—was walking, holding the arm of a guy first thing in the morning!

S-Seriously, what is this girl thinking?! I don’t remember you being this brazen when we were dating! As I feared, we continued walking like this through the school gate—right into the belly of the beast, where there were even more students. Any boy and girl walking to school with their arms linked would stand out, not just us.

“Oh, what’s up, Mizuto-kun?!”

“Let’s hang— Huh?”

Just like yesterday, the guys who were trying to become my friend to get close to Yume began swarming around me, but they soon stopped in their tracks. I didn’t blame them. After all, the guy that they were trying to use as a stepping stone was, right now, literally the closest a person could be to the very girl they wanted to get close to.

Speaking of which, she was squeezing my arm very tightly, pulling her body even closer to mine. Agh, my arm is touching them! Goddammit! They’re so soft, you idiot! You grew too much, you stupid shrimp!

“I’m sorry,” Yume said with such a bright smile that I couldn’t help but be dazzled by it. The guys around us just stood there, stunned stiff. “As you can see, I am currently having a conversation with Mizuto, so would you be so kind as to not interrupt?”

The guys gaped at us, their fingers pointing back and forth between me and Yume.

“Irido-san?”

“D-Does this mean that...”

“You two are siblings, aren’t you?!”

“Yes.” In that moment, Yume’s smile was the epitome of fierce. “Sorry, I only have eyes for my brother—I’m a brother lover.”

I froze. The guys around us completely shut down. The rest of the gallery watching this scene was abuzz with commotion.

“Got it? Bye.” She left these pointed words as the last thing these frozen guys would hear before she walked away while pulling me along with her. I only unfroze when she let go of my arm once we entered the school building.

“Wh-What were you thinking?!”

“What? Now those guys’ll leave you alone.”

“Well, yeah, no freaking duh!” You just told all those guys with a crush on you that you’re only interested in your stepbrother!

“It’s okay, I’ll explain the situation to my friends.”

“That’s not the issue here! You were so popular with everyone—”

“You are my family, you know?” Yume whispered while averting her gaze. “I can’t stand seeing a member of my family being taken for a fool. It’s as simple as that. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Is she for real?! Agh, goddammit! Sheesh, I can’t just write this off as a joke if you speak from the heart like that. So that’s why, as reluctant as I was, I tried to put my honest feelings into words as best as I could.

“Thanks. I owe you one.”

Just from hearing those words, Yume’s shoulders shook slightly. It wasn’t the kind of response you’d expect from someone being thanked.

“What the hell? Here I am, thanking you from the bottom of my heart, and you’re reacting like that?”

“I’m reacting normally!” Yume completely turned away from me and began walking towards the classroom by herself, but then she suddenly turned around and stared intently at my arm.

“So...”

“What?” I asked.

“J-Just erase whatever memory of what you might have felt pressing against your arm!”

“Oh...” Out of reflex, I touched the part of my arm that her breasts had been pressed against.

“Hngh!” Yume’s face turned bright red and she covered her chest.

Huh? Wait, what?

“Y-You closet pervert!” Yume hurled a baseless insult at me before running off.

What’s with her all of a sudden? While I was left dumbfounded, I found myself squeezing my arm for no apparent reason. Oh.

“Phantom boobs, huh?” There was no such thing.

◇

After a turbulent morning and the uneventful morning classes, it was lunchtime. A guy came up to me.

“Yo, how’s it going, Mizuto Irido? Wanna eat together?”

I didn’t expect that there would be any guy left standing after Yume’s brother complex declaration. I looked up annoyedly at the person who was talking to me.

He had a frivolous impression to him. In this school that was so difficult to get into, he had bright hair and a light perm as if he was issuing some sort of challenge. He was on the taller side and had a physique that made me think that he played basketball or something.

The meaningful smile that was plastered on his face annoyed me a little, but he gave off a feel of not being too serious and not too flirtatious yet also slightly flirtatious at the same time. In other words, I was sure that he was the popular type.

I couldn’t remember if this guy was in the crowd of people thirsting after Yume yesterday or not, but he seemed familiar to me, so he was most likely a classmate. Either way, though, my answer to him would be the same no matter what.

“Sorry, but I have two answers to your question,” I said.

“Sure, lay ’em on me.”

“First, I already ate.”

“Aw, dang.”

“Second, there’s no way I’m going to let a blatantly frivolous guy like you close to Yume.”

After I firmly laid down my points of rejection, an unpleasant smile crept across his face. What?

“All right then, let me say two things in response. I’ll let you in on a little secret.”

“Hm?”

“First, even if I wanted to get close to Irido-san, I wouldn’t start by talking to you.”

“Huh?!”

“Second, I think she heard what you said.” He pointed his finger to the side. Standing there was Yume, who had just gotten back from lunch.

Um... The words I’d just said to him kept replaying over and over in my head. “There’s no way I’m going to let a blatantly frivolous guy like you close to Yume?!” What am I, her boyfriend?!

As much as I wanted to believe that her face was redder than usual just because of the lighting, I couldn’t ignore how her eyes were unnaturally darting around.

She then began moving in a weird way. It was somewhat nostalgic seeing her like this. She moved her hands in a panic for some unknown reason before walking as unnaturally as a robot to her seat behind me. And then...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

She kicked my chair. Three times.

“Bwa ha ha!” The guy whose name I didn’t even know suddenly burst out in laughter. I didn’t understand what was so funny. Was it that entertaining seeing me being abused by my sibling?

“Oh god, ha ha ha! I knew I sniffed out something fun. My nose was right on the money!”

“Huh? Your nose?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes from laughing too much before stretching his hand out to me.

“My name’s Kogure Kawanami. I’m the first guy here who really just wants to be your friend.”

“Are you being serious? This sounds extremely fishy.”

“Don’t be like that, bro!”

“I don’t remember becoming your ‘bro.’”

“Huh? I thought you were good at becoming siblings with people you don’t know.”

“No, if anything I’d say it’s not my strong suit.”

“Oh, is that right? Then let’s be friends!” The guy named Kogure Kawanami very pushily squeezed my hands.

It would seem that I’ve befriended a very annoying guy.

“Well then, my dear friend—” he started.

“You’re already calling me a dear friend?”

“How about I tell you something fun? Y’know, as a way to commemorate the day we became friends.”

“Something fun?” I asked.

“If you turn around right now, you’ll see something real nice,” Kawanami said with another unpleasant smile.

Behind me? I turned around.

“...”

Behind me was Yume. Pouting. Her lips were slightly bent downwards into a frown, and she was looking far out into the distance.

Excuse me? It only took my galaxy brain an instant to come up with the perfect phrase to say.

“Miss me, my dear brother-loving sister?”

Bang. My chair was kicked again. That was possibly the strongest kick yet.