Is There Such Thing as a Cute Little Stepsister? There is No Romance Between us~ - Chapter 39-40
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- Chapter 39-40 - ‘Please, Cinderella’/‘Princess’ or ‘Witch’
‘Please, Cinderella’
“So, this is the valuable original painting.”
“This is the original painting of Cinderella from Nezumi land? I saw it on DVD when I was little before.”
Right now, we are walking around Cinderella’s castle.
The first section is an exhibit of original paintings and related items from Nezumi land’s Cinderella.
However, DVDs huh? When I was little, all we have is VHS tapes.
“This is the creator’s creative notebook.”
“It’s filled with writing in English, I don’t understand it at all.”
“Yeah, but you can see that he is really passionate about his work.”
“So, it’s a notebook filled with passion.”
There was also a time when I tried to make a living as a writer.
However, it remains a dram that never came true.
“Onii-sama, it looks like there’s stained glass over there.”
“Is it a depiction of a scene from Cinderella?”
The stained glass seems to depict the scene of Cinderella riding in the pumpkin carriage.
It is well made. I wonder how much it cost to make this single piece of stained glass.
But I guess money doesn’t matter here.
“It must be really expensive…”
“Hmm?”
“Never mind…is this the scene where Cinderella gets bullied? It’s an iconic scene where Cinderella is covered in ashes, right?”
“Cinderella is a success story for women, right? climbing up from the bottom and end up marrying the prince. Do you aspire to something like that?”
“Well, not really. I definitely don’t want to go through such extreme experiences of being bullied by my family. Besides, my prince is you, Onii-sama. So while I think it’s wonderful, I don’t aspire to it.”
“Huh…”
Casually saying such things like that…Ruri really knows how to make me blush!
“I-I’m happy to hear you say that.”
“Your face is blushing in red, you know?”
“That’s because you just said something like that so casually, Ruri…!”
“What are you talking about?”
With an adorable puzzled expression, she tilts her head…but I bet she knows what she did.
It seems like I’m in the palm of her hand after all.
“……”
While it’s a bit frustrating being teased by her all the time, knowing the fact that it’s all in the palm of her hand gives me joy.
It seems like I have a complicated fetish, after all.
“They also have the glass slippers over here?”
“…they’re selling them here?”
It’s priced at 50,000 yen and you can get your name engraved on them. Well, for now…it might not be the right time. This might be a good idea for a proposal though. I’ll keep that in mind.
“It’s really interesting to see all of these things.”
“Yeah, I saw many things I’ve never seen before, and it seems like the exhibits are updated depending on the season.”
“Their effort to never let the customers get bored is impressive.”
Nezumi Land doesn’t even cut corners in the smallest details, that’s why it’s really fun going here.
It’s truly amazing.
“Onii-sama, look, this is the replica of Cinderella’s dress used in the live-action version.”
“White, silver, and a light shade of blue…it’s beautiful.”
“I’d love to try wearing a dress like that someday.”
“You’d probably look gorgeous in it, Ruri. You are so beautiful that you might even outshine the dress. Finding one that suits you perfectly would be quite a challenge.”
“Hmphh!”
I’m just returning my favour from earlier.
Well, it’s the truth though.
‘Princess’ or ‘Witch’
Ruri’s POV
“This is ‘Snow White’ right here, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. She eats a poisoned apple and dies…but she comes back to life with a kiss from the prince. If that happened to me…would you kiss me?”
“Do you know? In the Grimm Brothers’ version, after she dies, when they carry the dead body, the apple piece stuck in her throat got out and she breathes again. However…if that happens to you, I will do it in a place where no one else is around.”
“Fufufu, I knew you’d do it.”
“Come on. It’s almost our turn.”
Dodging the topic, he continues,
“This attraction is a ‘viewing’ ride, right?”
“Yeah, we’ll see the whole story of Snow White on a ride that is modelled after the dwarves…it takes around twenty minutes, I think.”
It’s quite short, isn’t it? If the attraction were longer, we’d have more time together.
Clank.
The lever that keeps us in our seats is lowered.
“It feels like we’re really close to each other, right?”
“It’s just your imagination.”
There’s only about a hand width of space between us, but it’s fine, right?
We’re lovers after all.
“By the way, do you know a lot about Snow White?”
“I performed in a school play when I was in elementary school. We did the version from Nezumi Land because the Grimms’ version is pretty intense.”
“What role did you play?”
Was it the prince?
“The doctor.”
“The doctor?”
“Among the dwarfs, each one has a specific role. I played the dwarf with the role of doctor.”
“I didn’t know each of them have their own roles.”
“Yeah, there are the ‘Grumpy’, ‘Happy’, ‘Sleepy,’ ‘Bashful,’ ‘Sneezy’, and ‘Dopey’. In the play, the ‘Doctor’ is kind of the leader-like character of the dwarves and had the most lines, so it was quite challenging.”
“I see. I’m glad that you weren’t the prince.”
“It just didn’t suit my character.”
While saying that, Onii-sama shows a hint of sorrow. …there seems to be something on his mind.
“By the way, who played the role of the princess?”
“Hmm…? My childhood friend did it.”
“I see.”
A childhood friend…
I’m a bit concerned about this.
“Snow White was killed four times in the play, well it actually depends on the version of the story.”
“…is that so. And she survived each time?”
Onii-sama pretends to be calm, but it’s obvious that he doesn’t want to talk further about it… There might be something between Onii-sama and this childhood friend. Should press on or should I back off in this situation?
“It’s the kissing scene in the Nezumi version.”
“It’s quite romantic, isn’t it?”
Let’s think about it for a while.
I definitely don’t want to caught off guard by this childhood friend…but should I take the risk and press on in this situation?
“Did you want to do a kissing scene in the play?”
“…well, not really.”
“I see. My one and only prince is you, Onii-sama. Please remember that.”
“Thank you. Well, it doesn’t really suit me, but I’ll try my best.”
There was a moment of hesitation, wasn’t there?
It seems like Onii-sama might even have some past romantic involvement with this ‘childhood friend’.
Even though she no longer matters in Onii-sama’s current life, it might worth a little investigation.
It’s better to be cautious, just in case.