After I Comforted My Younger Stepsister Who Had Her Boyfriend Taken From Her, She Started Becoming Obsessively Sweet - 21

Chapter 21: Mamori’s Thoughts and Sugisaki’s Scheme

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“A message from Sugisaki-kun…”

Shikino, clad in only purple lace panties, turned toward me with a serious expression on her face. She was covering her boobs by cradling them with her arm. I involuntarily opened my mouth in surprise.

“Huh?”

My eyes widened, but I immediately averted my gaze from Shikino, who was still half-naked. We did it with the light off, so this was my first time seeing her with the light on.

“Onii-chan.. This… What do you think about it? Why does that guy suddenly message me out of the blue like this…?”

“…What’s the message about? What did he say?”

“… I don’t want to press it and mark it as read…”

“Try holding the chat notification for a bit. You can see the message without marking it as read.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah. Just give it a try.”

When I said this, Shikino turned her attention back to her phone. But then, Shikino turned her eyes to me again. She looked confused. Her eyes were looking up at me with a pleading, almost helpless look. 

“Hm.”

Without saying anything much, I just spread my arms wide, gesturing for her to come into my embrace. Shikino quickly climbed to the bed, practically rushing over to me. I welcomed her in my arms. Her back was against me. Reaching around from behind, I took Shikino’s phone.

“But still, I’m surprised you didn’t know about this trick. I thought you’re proficient in social media, Shikino.”

“…Then, how come you know about that trick? I think I’m getting a bit annoyed here…”

“We-Well, you can find all sorts of things online. I guess I just happened to see this trick while scrolling through the internet.”

There was no way I could tell her the real truth. When Shikino was still cold to me, I used to feel extremely happy when she sent me a message. A message from Shikino was like a rare treasure to me. I had to suppress the urge to open her message immediately, that was why I came to know about this little trick.

“A-Anyway… You just need to press and… Hold it like this…”

“Ah, the message is showing up now…”

“Ermm… Let’s see… ‘There’s something I need to talk about with you’….?”

“No way. I definitely don’t want to meet him and I don’t have anything to say to him either.”

“Wait, Shikino. There’s more.”

“…No, it’s fine. You don’t need to read it, Onii-chan. Just hold me tight, okay? After reading a message from him, my energy is getting depleted. I need to recharge.”

“…’If you don’t want to meet me, I will come to you. I have something important to talk about’… Huhh??”

“…That’s the sign of a stalker tendency. Onii-chan, that person is trying to stalk me…”

“Right. I don’t think we can ignore him.”

So he was planning to come after Shikino if she refused to come. Besides, I was curious about what he wanted to talk about with Shikino. I didn’t know what he wanted to say to Shikino, but if he was going to say something that would make her uncomfortable, I definitely had to be there to stop him. 

And so, I decided to probe around a bit.

“..Shikino. Is it okay if I send him a reply?”

“Huh…?! Why…?!”

“I mean, if we ignore him now, we won’t know what he’s going to do next. I just think it’s not good to stay in limbo like this.”

“Umm… But, you need to be careful, okay? We might make things worse if we’re not careful.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll be careful. For now, I will press on the message and mark it as read. Is that okay with you?”

“…O-Okay.”

While still hugging her from behind, I opened the chat screen and sent a reply to Sugisaki-kun.

『I’m sorry, but could you please tell me what is it that you want to talk about before I agree to meet with you?』

I sent a simple, but straightforward message. 

Now what…? I hope I don’t sound too cruel…

“He read it immediately…”

“He’s probably glued to his phone right now. Literally holding it right now.”

Shikino said as she squirmed and touched my thigh. She stared at me, not saying a word. She probably didn’t want me to say anything unpleasant. This was her way of silently pleading to me. We were so close. The distance between us was practically zero. If she wanted to say something, she could’ve said it easily. 

I let out another awkward smile and returned my gaze to the phone. A new message appeared in the chat screen, accompanied by a notification sound.

『There are things that I couldn’t say to you while we were dating. I want to tell you all of them now.』

No, but, why now? 

I couldn’t stop myself from retorting in my mind. 

“But why now…? Besides, I don’t even want to see his face anymore…”

“…I know, right?”

“And if I meet with Sugisaki-kun now, that woman will definitely come tagging along… This must be a trap, Onii-chan.”

“A trap, huh…”

“Yeah, this is definitely a trap. Let’s refuse him. Just tell him no way in hell. That’s fine, right?”

“No, wait a second.”

I took a moment to think. 

A trap, huh? We had experienced a similar situation before. Shikino and I were together, but then Orihara-san suddenly came along with Sugisaki-kun seemingly out of nowhere. Hence why, if this was also a trap, just like what Shikino said, then… Maybe… Maybe this could be our chance to get back at her.

“…Shikino, let’s meet him. Let’s meet up with Sugisaki-kun.”

“What?!”

“But, I will be coming with you. We’ll go together.”

“To-Together…? With Onii-chan?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded from behind her. This time, we would be prepared. I had the confidence I could face whatever was coming our way. My resolution was firm. 

“Let’s have a proper conversation. All four of us. How about if we meet at a family restaurant? I will send the message to Sugisaki-kun to meet at a family restaurant, okay?”

I murmured while typing out the message on Shikino’s phone. Shikino let out a weak groan, seemingly worried. Just before I hit the send button, I leaned my cheek gently against her head. 

“It’ll be fine. Trust me, Shikino. I have a plan.”

“A plan…?”

“Yes. A plan. Just wait and see.”

I wouldn’t hesitate anymore. I wouldn’t cower in fear anymore. My feelings had reached Shikino. All that we had to do was brace ourselves for this conversation with Orihara-san. Me and Shikino, together. 

“I hope you will come too, Orihara-san…”

I said with a daring smile on my face. Shikino looked at me while tilting her head to the side, obviously confused by my words.

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