My Stepsister is My Ex-Girlfriend - Volume 12 - Chapter 5.2

Yume Irido: Decision

“Good morning,” I said, opening the door to the student council room.

Inside already was the president, Suzuri Kurenai, who welcomed me with a smile. “Good morning, Yume-kun. Did you have a good Obon?”

“Yes, I guess. You look pretty refreshed yourself.”

At this, she giggled, to which I fell silent. For some reason she seemed a lot more radiant than usual. In contrast, her boyfriend, the treasurer of the student council, Joji Haba, seemed to have lost a lot of weight, or maybe dried out. Ever since White Day when they started dating, there were days like this. I had a feeling I knew what was going on, but both Aso-senpai and I had decided not to touch the subject at all. The only one who didn’t catch what was going on was probably Asuhain-san. Speaking of her, when she noticed me come in she stood up like a subordinate seeing their superior and ran over to me.

“It’s nice to see you after all this time, Irido-san.”

“Uh, has it really been that long? I could’ve sworn we saw each other at the start of August.”

“I’ve read a lot of books in the two weeks we’ve been apart. I’ll give you some more recommendations.”

“O-Oh, okay. Thank you.”

The way that she’s all up in my face reminds me of how Akatsuki-san was when we first met. But also, I’m happy that she’s enjoying reading because of me. The only ones I can really talk about books with are Mizuto and sometimes Higashira-san.

“You were just leisurely reading books the entire time?” Aisa Aso-senpai asked in a menacing tone. “Don’t you know the culture festival’s comin’ up? Are you two ready for that?”

It was true that we were entering the period of planning for the culture festival. Historically, the second-years of the student council took care of it. The third-years took a backseat and the first-years supported the second-years. It was a way of passing the torch, so to speak.

In October, the third-years would step down, leaving us with the keys to the entire student council. It still didn’t feel real that they wouldn’t be here anymore, or that I would be in the driver’s seat.

“You also have to recruit new members,” President Kurenai said with her elbows on the desk. “For years now, the student council has accepted new members based on recommendations from current members. Of course, even if both of you brought a candidate, that wouldn’t be enough to fill the student council, so either way you’ll need to find others. That being said, do you have any underclassmen that you have your eyes on?”

“No, nobody yet...” I answered, awkwardly shaking my head.

I didn’t have any idea what kind of people I wanted on the student council. Asuhain-san also shook her head beside me.

“I’m in the same position. I was planning on scouting some capable people during the culture festival committee meeting.”

“You don’t have to think too hard about it. I pretty much chose you ’cause of your cute face, Ranran,” Aso-senpai said nonchalantly.

Despite how relaxed she was acting, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy. It felt like I’d been enjoying myself so much this entire time that I hadn’t really been thinking about the future at all. It felt like all of a sudden I was completely lost on what kind of person I wanted to become.

Even last year, Haba-senpai didn’t recommend anyone, so at the very least, I knew that the student council members didn’t have to be scouted, but...not doing that felt like running away. I began asking myself the hard question: Was it really okay to shy away from the hard choices in order to maintain the status quo?

“But more importantly, do you already have a choice for next year’s president, Suzurin?” Aso-senpai asked casually. But hearing this, I couldn’t help but freeze. “Around this time last year, it was already pretty much a sure thing that you’d be the next president.”

“I was a special case because neither you nor Joe had any intentions of being president.”

“Like I’d ever wanna compete with you. But yeah, I never really had any interest in being president.”

“I’d like to be president,” Asuhain-san declared in a clear voice. “I’d like to be like you, President Kurenai.”

Asuhain-san had always looked up to her. She’d even said that she’d only entered the student council because of her admiration for President Kurenai. I had no doubt that she had some attachment to the seat of the student council president. President Kurenai flashed a cryptic smile while turning toward me.

“What about you, Yume-kun. Do you have any interest in being the student council president?”

“I...”

“If you’re the president, I will support you with everything I have,” Asuhain-san said, bowing toward me, making me bend back with bewilderment.

“D-Don’t you want to be president?” I asked.

“These are two separate matters. After all, you never know what will happen.”

It seemed that Asuhain-san was very set on what she wanted to do...unlike me.

“Well, take your time to think about it. I’ll be thinking on it myself while watching you two work the culture festival.”

“I shall endeavor to meet your expectations,” Asuhain-san said.

“‘Endeavor’ isn’t really a word girls in high school use, Ranran,” Aso-senpai said.

And just like that, this group of five working together on the student council stepped closer to its end. As I was forced to think about my future, I couldn’t help but remember what Madoka-san had told me when we left the countryside.

“Oh, right, Yume-chan. Do you remember what I told you in the bath last year?”

“Huh?” I’d racked my brains to remember and ultimately I came up with... “A-About what to do after doing...dirty stuff?” I’d asked hesitantly.

“Of course not! But on that topic... How’s it goin’ for you?”

“I-I’m not saying anything!”

Madoka-san had snickered teasingly. “Well, not that I need to ask. It’s obvious.”

Just as I’d gotten annoyed at her teasing me again, Madoka-san had put on a gentle smile, albeit with a seriousness behind it. “I’m talking about when that time comes—when the two of you need to decide your feelings and what the two of you are gonna be.”

“Oh...” Those words had been in the corner of my brain, but that had made me all the more confused. “That time’s already come and passed, though, hasn’t it?”

Mizuto and I had decided to go back to dating. That was why I thought by taking that option, we’d already passed the time she’d been referring to.

“Oh... Were you thinking that I was talking about your maturity levels to be able to make that decision to start dating again?”

“You weren’t?”

“Oh, no. This is all about something more tangible and inevitable.”

“Inevitable?”

“From where I’m standing, that time refers to something in the near future. I’m sure when that time does come, the two of you will have to take a good look at the both of yourselves and maybe even rethink your relationship. I’m sorry if I’m scaring you, but it’s nothing too bad, so don’t freak out. I’d just be happy if when that time does come, you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, she did say something about this...’”

At that time, I hadn’t been sure what she’d meant by that time. But eventually both Mizuto and I would need to think about our paths. We were halfway through high school. The choices for our future kept piling up and, slowly, I was getting closer to having to make them. I needed to find out what I would choose—decide what my goal would be. But right now, I didn’t have a clue.

Isana Higashira: Myself

The hellish summer vacation finally ended. While I agonized over working on illustrations that deviated from my typical method of simply obeying my fetishes, I was somehow able to complete my work by the end of August. It was perhaps by far the least restful summer vacation I’d ever had.

However, looking back, it had been quite enjoyable. The VTuber who commissioned me was also incredibly pleased with my work. All that was left now was to get through the new semester and decide how I’d spend the money I earned. Though I considered trying to venture into the unknown world of working on an LCD tablet, Mizuto-kun told me that if I were to try and exit my comfort zone, then it’d be best if I tried a drawing tablet.

Apparently, his reasoning was that other tablets would ruin my posture and hurt my back. Though I understood what he was saying, using an LCD tablet gave a stronger atmosphere of being an illustrator. However, the days that I was still allowed to act carefree like that were few in number.

“Isana, did you see the DM?”

“I did...”

My account had received a new message. This time, it was from a publishing company.

We have a new light novel project and would very much like you to be the illustrator.

The days of me doing my daily quests in mobile games, drawing whatever I liked, and relying on Mizuto-kun were coming to an end even though I hadn’t graduated from high school. The time for me to decide who I wanted to be had arrived.