"..."
"..."
I was standing at my house's entrance, ready to go outside. But over a minute has passed, and I still couldn't leave.
You ask why, because some kind of staring contest has been started unconsciously.
I was trapped. It's unbecoming of me but I feel like I will lose something.... within me if I backed down now.
My opponent was a girl 'my age', and there was nothing else between us─ or so I wished to say, but I have to admit, there's a relationship beyond that, or at least, there used to be.

"…Where are you going, Mizuto-kun?"
"…To get fresh air like I said. Where are you going, Yume-san?"
It was the third time.
The girl asked; I replied, and all that followed was silence. We stared and it was her who broke it first.
"In this plain get-up? Don't you think it will bring shame to our family? To me....being seen with you?"
I already knew where this woman was going even without asking.
"...I remember you said you liked it before. This is not plain."
"Going out to the bookstore before the station in pajamas is plain!"
She snorted.
"Well, I didn't say anything about us going together."
"That's the problem isn't it? I thought we were supposed to."
I was indeed going to that large bookstore before the station. A certain author of a psychological novel had just released a new volume, and his contracted publishing house has made physical copies available in both Japanese and English.
There should even be a few signed ones among them. If there were, I could get 'm at the same costs instead of usually higher lifted price.
Of course, I was planning on picking it up before it got out of stock and had to wait for either it getting re-ordered or use the subway to purchase it from another store that was about half an hour away from here.
It seemed like this woman had the same idea, and somehow knew I was going there. So, she followed me.
At this rate, we'd end up leaving the entrance, walking alongside to the
bookstore, going to the same corner, and queuing at the same cashier.
Wouldn't we totally look like a couple with the same taste in books?
Those kinds of misunderstandings were exactly what we both wanted to avoid or that was agreed upon at least.
To be precise, it's more me who did not want to be involved with her anymore.
I don't think...I would be able to handle it. These feelings of guilt, self-hate, being a disappointment just keep getting piled up.
Basically, we were in a deadlock. Why was she even thinking we'd go together? Didn't we hate each other's guts now?
I mean, couldn't we just leave the house with a gap or one goes after the other comes back?
But, this woman thinks there was no point or to do that much effort if we were going to the same place anyway.
So, uh....we're trying to negotiate and
fending off each other just to decide this.
Why couldn't we just talk it out and go out separate ways? No way. There's no way it would happen with her.
"─Eh? Yume, Mizuto-kun, what are you two doing?"
Yuni-san, dressed in her office suit, appeared from the living room. She became my mother just last week. In other words, she married Mineaki, my father in this life.
I always had a hard time calling him that, since for me I already had one for twenty years in my past life.
Besides, he was near my age when I came to be here. Growing up in this place from a new born to a teenager again, whether I can bring it to call him that, he was ...my biological parent now.
–and Yuni-san's the actual mother of the girl before me.
"Aren't you two going out?"
"Well, about to Mom."
'Bye then', I was about to say that and walk out like a smooth operator, but Yuni-san said, "Ah, are you two going to the bookstore at Karasuma Dori? I heard that you're a bookworm too, Mizuto-kun~! Are you going with Yume? This girl only goes to the
bookstore or the library."
"…Err, I am not a nerd anymore..."
"Wait, Yuni-san…"
"Ah, are you two going together!? I'm glad, Mizuto-kun! You seem to be getting along well with Yume! Please continue to take care of her. This girl's a little shy~"
"…yes…"
I could only agree since she said so. I sensed a giggle being snubbed next to me.
I glared at her murderously in my mind.
"Now then, I'm going to work. Do hurry back you two! Get along well as siblings!"
Leaving those words behind, Yuni-san disappeared beyond the entrance door.
After that, she and I, siblings, were the only ones left behind.
Yes. We're siblings. But, stepsiblings, or if you want to investigate too deeply, half-siblings.
Our parents remarried, so she was a tagalong. Yuni-san was pregnant with Mineaki.... It's a very complicated relationship. They work in the same company.
I have come to know in the cafe, she's both his budget manager and colleague for years.
They have to travel a lot cause' of business trips.
"…Why did you just agree?"
"…I didn't have a choice. It just went that way."
"You could have refused her. Why do I have to care about you?"
"Like I'd need you to take care of me."
"That self-centeredness is what I hate about you, you shitty maniac."
"That passive attitude is what I hate about you, you shitty otaku."
But our parents didn't know.
She and I were the only ones who knew of our true relationship.
I, Mizuto Irido―
And she, Yume Irido―
―Were boyfriend and girlfriend until just two weeks ago. After she settled here with Yuni-san, we didn't even have to say it out loud or put big words to lay it for each other.
We both really hated this, even more so I hated her new personality that debuted last Sunday.
...
Anyway, so we ended up going together to the bookstore. Bought the same books, her Japanese, me English.
There were only three signed copies left. 2 Japanese 1 English.
Out of human nature and my conscience, I couldn't rob a fellow reader, especially a middle schooler who was unlucky to not have any signed left in native language.
She came to look for an English signed version but I had already picked it up.
It was awkward, and I wasn't really in the need of it cause' I already had a few of Author's signature in previous volumes.
And it looked like she was buying her first, so I gave it to her. I just purchased a normal English one.
Yume for her good luck, didn't have any problems while I almost caused a girl to cry.
Of course, I was able to get it for her as usual with the same listing price of 1200 yen, not of 2100 yen as mentioned on the label.
On the way back, I kept rubbing my lips using a wet handkerchief.
"...Is it still there?"
"Not visible as much as before. I-I am sorry! It just... happened out of habit."
That's even worse....I rolled my eyes.
"When did you even start using gloss anyway....?"
xxxxxx
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