Is There Such Thing as a Cute Little Stepsister? There is No Romance Between us~ - Chapter 13-14

‘Family’ My Sins, and My Selfishness

“Yeah, I’m (boku) doing fine. I think Ruri…is doing well too.”

‘Well, that’s good to hear! We’re also having a great time living together, so don’t get in our way!’

“Die, you scum father.”

I say so and hang up on my father.

Don’t you think as a parent, you should’ve come and checked on us yourself instead of just checking on us over a phone call?

I take off my suit and throw it on my bed.

“Onii-sama…”

“Huh!? What is it…Ruri? Do you need something from me?”

Suddenly, Ruri who has a gloomy expression on her face, called out to me.

“Onii-sama, do you have any complaints about our life together?”

“Eh?”

“I heard that you refer to yourself as ‘boku’ when you talk to your father.”

“…!!!”

“You call yourself ‘boku’ when you are talking to your father, but not when you’re talking with me…”

“No, I don’t mean that…I (watashi) just…”

“Then, why do I feel like you’re always keeping your distance from me!?”

Ruri stomps her feet as she says so, it’s as if she is throwing a tantrum.

It seems like she is not happy with our current situation at all.

“I knew it, I knew it! There is a wall between us! I’ve been working hard doing the housework and shopping, I’ve been trying my best to get closer to you! But in the end, it all came to nothing!”

“No, it’s not that, we just still haven’t spent that much time together yet.”

“What do you mean, ‘time’? Have you ever tried to close the distance between us yourself!? I…”

After Ruri said so, she becomes quiet.

“I’m sorry, I said too much. I’ll go back to my room.”

“Yeah.”

With that, Ruri leaves my room.

“……”

I guess I indeed have been avoiding it for quite some time now. That’s my sin…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ruri’s POV

I actually thought of slowly closing the distance between us over time.

But I messed up.

“Ugh…”

I got emotional listening to Onii-sama’s phone call with his father. I still haven’t truly become Onii-sama’s ‘family’…I should’ve known that. There is no way someone can easily let a complete stranger into their heart. I know that, but still…

“Uwaa…”

Before I knew it, tears are flowing down my cheeks and I’m crying out loud.

Onii-sama may have thought of me as a difficult child.

I want to get closer to him.

I want to be liked by him.

I don’t want to be hated by him.

My mind is filled with various thoughts.

Suddenly, there is a sound coming from the other side of the door.

“About earlier…”

He pauses as if he doesn’t know what to say.

It seems like he hates me after all.

“…it was really fun, the shopping. I had been a while since I went shopping with someone like that. I felt like my old youth is back…I should be the one apologizing. I’m sorry for avoiding you—no, for avoiding the idea of family.”

I can hear Onii-sama’s voice clearly through the door.

“I’ve been saying that the relationship between my father and your mother is ‘a decision between adults’ is because I’ve been running away from it. Ruri, you’re probably anxious about it too, right…? I might be a thoughtless person, but will you give me another chance and think of me as your ‘older brother’?”

“…just like back then, ‘I’m fine with Onii-sama being my Onii-sama.’”

“……”

“But I still can’t forgive you.”

“…! Then, what should I do?”

“Please sleep with me.”

“…if that what it takes for you to forgive me.”

Onii-sama enters my room, deliberately avoiding eye contact with me as he gets into the bed.

He must have noticed my tearful face.

“Can you…hold my hand?”

“You hand…? Of course.”

Onii-sama holds my hand tightly, it feels very warm.

The warmth of Onii-sama…

‘Game Centres’ Really Brings Back Memories

“Is this really a place to come with your family…?”

“Yes! I want to come here with you, Onii-sama!”

Right now, I am at a game centre with Ruri, who has dragged me along.

The girls’ section is just too much for me.

What’s with all that glitter and shiny decoration anyways?

On top of that, it’s just full of these photo machines (Purikura).

(TN: Purikura, a shortened form of “print club” in Japanese, refers to photo sticker booths that print out stickers of photo portraits set against backgrounds and frames selected by the user.)

“When we talk about game centres, there are fighting games, robot battles, rhythm games, and…”

“What are you mumbling about? Let’s start with this one!”

Ruri inserts some money and chooses a mode…

Even Purikura seems to have photo enhancement effects nowadays…

I feel like I’m getting old…

<Get ready! 3, 2, 1…>

Snap!

The sound of the photo being taken.

“Why are you wrapping your arm around mine?”

“Because your arm was just there, Onii-sama.”

“Well that’s obvious, but…it’s a bit embarrassing.”

Ruri tells me it’s a family photo to commemorate our first time going to a game centre together, but I don’t really feel like it’s a family photo…

Besides, Ruri is really cute, so I’m feeling a bit nervous.

“Eiii!”

“Whoa!”

“What’s with that complicated expression on your face? Smile more!”

I’m surprised when Ruri suddenly hugs me and says so.

Right now, Ruri is adding some captions to the finished photo.

‘Whenever I’m with Haruto, I just naturally smile!’

For some reason, I start to reminisce about the past alone.

I don’t want to think about it, it’s a painful memory.

However, I might have made some truly happy memories today.

“It’s done, Onii-sama!”

“No, sorry. I’m just not good with ‘cute’ things, you know.”

“No, please take half of it.”

With her blushing cheeks and the way she hands it to me, I feel like I’m receiving a love letter from Ruri.

“Thank you. Purikura has really changed a lot.”

“There are various photo enhancement features available now.”

“I don’t have much knowledge about that…I was more interested in those things.”

I point to the corner where fighting games and such are located.

“You’re an otaku aren’t you, Onii-sama?”

“I think that’s an exaggeration.”

I shrug my shoulders and carefully put the photo sticker I received from Ruri into my wallet.