Chapter 23 – My First Kiss, Your First Kiss

“W-Why…”

“You really don’t know!? Are you an idiot, Mom!? It’s obviously because you bully Onee-chan!”

Still pinned face-down by me, that woman asked the question. I had no idea what she was saying “why” to, so I ignored her. Then the young girl, who had been sitting on the bed until just then, stood up, crying, and shouted that. As I had thought, she seemed to be Fujimiya-san’s little sister — and she was the one who had asked me for help.

Actually, earlier, when I had been looking at Fujimiya-san’s messages at the fast-food place, there was one message from an unknown account. The contents were: “Please help my Itsuki Onee-chan, who our mom is bullying. I’ll do anything.”

If someone told you that, you’d have no choice but to help, right?

Because—

She said she’d “do anything”!

Now then, let’s take a good look at this girl who’d do anything for me.

Hmm? By the looks of her, maybe a middle schooler? She seemed to admire the gal style but hadn’t fully committed to it, and that half-baked feeling was pretty cute. Because it meant she still had the hidden potential to become either a gal or a pure, innocent girl. It gave me shivers just thinking about how she’d probably end up dyed in the preferences of whatever men she met from then on.

But for being Fujimiya-san’s sister, she didn’t really look like her, huh? Her face and… her chest. Fujimiya-san was extra-large, but her sisters’ were only slightly swollen. Well, to me, size wasn’t an issue anyway. Just the fact that they were a girl’s breasts made them incredibly valuable. You must never rank them. Absolutely not.

“Have I ever said I hated Onee-chan!? Stop deciding things on your own! I was actually so happy to get a big sister, and I love her so much, you know!? Despite that, you forced my stepdad and me to ignore her! The truth is… the truth is, it was so incredibly painful!”

Hm? Wait — was this still going on?

“Y-Yukina… is that… true?”

Along with that voice, the closet opened, and Fujimiya-san stepped out.

Her face was a mess from crying. Even so, the overflowing tears continued to stream down her cheeks.

“It… is… Because I was so happy. I wanted a big sister so badly. So I actually wanted to brag to everyone about having such a cute, kind Onee-chan! And yet…”

“Yukina… Yukinaaaaa!”

“Onee-chaaaaan!”

“Waaaaaaah!!”

The two sisters hugged each other as they cried. How beautiful. And why exactly did I have to keep pinning that woman down in a situation like this?

Yeah. I could let go now. Her eyes were dead anyway.

“Phew.”

I let go of her twisted arm and looked at my phone screen.

It showed that I was in the middle of a call with the weather forecast service. I see. It was going to rain tomorrow. If I pretended to have forgotten my umbrella and stood by the shoe lockers, I wondered whether a beautiful girl would ask me, “Wanna… share?”

“Takuma-kun… thank you too, Takuma-kun… Thanks to you, I realized that Yukina actually did love me… B-But why? I’ve never told anyone about this…”

Hm? Was the sister-yuri time over?

“If you want to thank anyone, thank your little sister. The only reason I was able to storm in here like this is thanks to her.”

“…Eh? Yukina did?”

At that, Fujimiya-san looked at her little sister again. Then, looking awkwardly down at the floor, the little sister began to mutter her explanation.

“U-Umm, you see? Actually, while you were sleeping, Onee-chan, I looked at your phone without asking. You were saying ‘Thank you, Takuma-kun’ in your sleep, so I thought you had finally made a friend you could rely on… I wondered if a person like that could do what I couldn’t — if they could help Onee-chan? So… I secretly checked his ID and sent a message from my own phone.”

“So that’s what happened…”

So that was what happened. I had been wondering how she knew my ID, but that explained it.

“But still, you helped me even with such a sudden request. So I really do have to thank you too, Takuma-kun…”

“Yeah. Thank you from me as well. I really didn’t think you’d actually help… I really didn’t… Will you keep being Onee-chan’s friend from now on?”

Friend… Hmm? Friend? I knew I had called myself a friend earlier, but I didn’t feel like we were quite there yet. Well, whatever. She was looking at me with such teary, pleading eyes that saying “We’re not friends” right then would be… yeah. I was a guy who could read the room.

“Yeah. Sure.”

“I’m so glad. Oh, right. I have to thank you. U-Umm! Just like I said in my message, I’ll do anything. Absolutely anything. Umm… if it’s for you, Takuma-san, I think I could do anything… So please, tell me whatever you’d like!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.”

“But, if I don’t…!”

“I’ve already received it.”

“Eh!?”

Right. The truth was, I had already gotten my reward the moment I entered that room. I mean, you know? Her little sister had been sitting defenselessly, hugging her knees while wearing a skirt, right? When you did that, you could see them, right? Panties. Panties sandwiched between plump, squishy thighs. And even though she was a middle schooler, they were light purple lace, you know? If I asked for anything more than that, I’d get struck by divine punishment.

“C-Could it be that the reward is the fact that we were able to become close like this? Oh my… if you say something like that to me… What should I do? Takuma-san, I might…”

Hm? What was she talking about? I hadn’t said a single word like that. Were her ears okay?

“T-Takuma-kun! Me too! Let me thank you somehow, too! I’ll give you money!”

“Don’t want it.”

Seriously, stop trying to solve everything with money right away.

“Then… oh, I know. I’ll give you my bra! And… my panties too! You’re a boy, so you love that stuff, right!?”

“Don’t want ’em.”

I did love them, but I didn’t want them. What was I supposed to do if she gave me those? Was she telling me to commit social suicide? If my mom ever caught me with something like that, she’d hit me with a backdrop and follow it up with a spinning back kick that would blow my head clean off.

More than anything, it wasn’t the underwear itself that I liked — it was the sight of a girl wearing them. I didn’t like underwear. I liked girls in underwear.

“No way… then what should I do? I’m so happy, but I can’t do anything for you…”

“Then just keep getting along with me from now on. I don’t have many friends, after all.”

“Y-Yeah! I will! We’ll get along!”

…? I wondered why. That “get along” just then had felt strangely terrifying. Just my imagination… right? Getting along just meant talking normally and stuff, right? There was nothing to be afraid of. Yep.

“Well, I’m heading home then. You guys sort things out with that dried-up snake of a person over there as a family.”

“Yeah. I’ll do my best! Because I have Yukina with me now!”

“Yes. I absolutely won’t let her bully Onee-chan anymore! Onee-chan, let’s split the room in half, okay?”

“Yeah!”

Yep. I didn’t really get it, but I guessed my wish for a pair of panties had been fulfilled. Time to go home, time to go home.

“Ah, wait!”

The moment I turned my back on the two of them to leave the room, a voice called out to stop me. I turned around, and Fujimiya-san’s face was right there.

“Takuma-kun…”

And then, with her eyes closed, Fujimiya-san’s face leaned in toward my right cheek.

Swoosh!!

Like the masked pilot from a certain mecha anime, I dodged it.

“Nnmuh…”

“Nnn!?”

…Eh? What was the meaning of this?

I had definitely dodged, so why was there a face right in front of me? Could it be… an afterimage with mass? And this sensation transmitting to my lips was…

“Nn… chu… mwah… Takuma-saaan…”

“Heh? Eh? Why?”

“Becauseee… I was trying to give you a thank-you kiss on the cheek, but you turned this waaaay… Not that I’m complaining, thoughhh…”

Why was she blushing? Why was she tracing her lips with her fingers? Why were her eyes so moist? Why? Why?

“I gave you my first kisssss…”

It was my first kiss too, you know!? My first kiss just got stolen by a middle schooler!?

“Ah! A-Aaaaaaahhh!! Aaaaaaaahhhh!!!”

Fujimiya-san, you’re being a bit loud, so please shut up.

◇◇◇

And so, that was the entire sequence of events.

By the way, the reason the woman had bullied Fujimiya-san was apparently that Fujimiya-san looked exactly like the deceased ex-wife. She had grown anxious that her husband would remember his ex-wife and start to hate her, making it an action born out of “love.”

In other words, it was a remarriage between people who both brought children from previous marriages.

According to a message I received from her little sister, Yukina-chan, that woman properly apologized to Fujimiya-san afterward. The father, who had finally learned the true circumstances, accepted everything with an overly generous heart, and it seemed their family relationship was gradually improving. I wanted to say What kind of soap opera is this?” but I kept it to myself.

And now, a new problem had occurred. One that dragged me into it, no less. It was this. You’d understand if you looked at my phone. The screen displayed sixty-nine new notifications.

Every single one was from the Fujimiya sisters. The breakdown: thirty-seven from Fujimiya-san. Thirty-two from Yukina-chan.

…Hey, the step-sisters thing was a lie, right? They did the same things. Seriously.

────Ping!