Me who was the Older Brother, and the Girl who was my little sister.

Chapter 5 Pretending to be Something

The mother looked back and forth between my sister and me with a blank expression as she asked. My dad just watched silently. The little sister seemed to be somewhat sneering.

“I’m not going to high school. I am going to help Saki.”

“────”

I looked at Mom and thought this must be what it meant to be speechless. Mom was far more shaken than the surprise from the drama she’d just witnessed.

──……How many seconds had passed since the shocking confession? TV commercials and the sound of the second hand ticking away the time seemed eerily loud.

It was so quiet that I thought it might go on forever.

But that, too, came to an end in the next moment. By the angry voice of Mom, who had been frozen in place, her face had turned bright red and she screamed.

“What are you saying, stupid?!! There’s no way I’d allow that!!”

Mother, reacted as expected, stood up and glared at me and my sister as if scolding us.

I couldn’t make eye contact with my mother. It was literally the image of a child being scolded by a parent.

However, that didn’t seem to be much of an issue for my little sister.

With a firm tone of voice, my little sister countered my angry mother.

“Does Nii-san need Mom’s permission for what he has decided?”

This was the first rebellion of my little sister in her life, who usually was quiet and understanding at home.

“Saki…….chan? Wh-What’s wrong? What happened?!”

“I’m on Nii-san’s side. I respect Nii-san’s choice.”

“──────huh?!”

The mother and little sister had an argument. The mother complained emotionally, and the little sister objected indifferently, but in the end, neither side yielded. They remained parallel. In the end, the mother was forced to hide in her bedroom, tears streaming down her cheeks.

After that, my sister’s expression did not change in any way, she just started cleaning up after dinner in place of our mother.

What I didn’t expect was my dad. He neither agreed nor disagreed with my course of action. After things settled down, he simply invited me for a short walk.

I accepted my Dad’s invitation and we left for a short walk to a nearby park, leaving my mom and little sister at home. (TL: Pep talk time)

“People are always pretending to be something they are not.”

When we got to the park, my dad suddenly started talking. Not in the usual playful tone, but in a very serious voice.

“What is it to pretend?”

“Hmm. For me, it’s pretending to be a father, pretending to be a husband, even pretending to be a bit of an idiot.”

“……You mean you’re acting?”

“Haha. Close, but not quite. Pretending to be something you’re not isn’t a lie. In fact, I’m your father and your mother’s husband.”

“Then what is it? That pretense?”

I was a little confused. Because the father in front of me didn’t seem like my usual father. Specifically, it feels like an adult I don’t know well was talking to me.

“To embody the notion of what you 『ought to be』 inside yourself…….that’s what I think it is.”

“I don’t quite understand.”

“Right, haha. Well, to put it simply, it’s people who change themselves for the sake of their goals.”

“Goals?”

“Yes. If you really wanted to be there for Saki, you could have just pretended to be her brother like you have been.”

“…..”

“I know very well that you are not the kind of person who would think about letting your sister provide for you. That’s why I don’t agree with your unnatural choice to change the status quo. ……──Kosuke, did something happen with Saki?”

Something happened. There was no doubt something had happened.

However, I could not tell my parents. Because if I said it, I feel like our family would fall apart, so I could not say it.

That’s why, I will do something about it.

For that reason, I chose to do it.

“──No, nothing happened. Everything’s okay.”

“…..I see, everything’s okay, huh”

My dad said nothing more. It’s just that his back looked very mature on the way home.

When we arrived home, my dad said, “I’ll take care of Mom,” and went to their bedroom.

I washed my face in the downstairs bathroom and headed up the stairs to my room. And then I went down the hallway and opened the door to my room. The room was dark because the lights were not on. I left the lights off because I planned to go straight to bed.

But then I noticed something strange as I got under the covers of my bed in the dark.

──it was warm inside the bed.

I soon found out why. I could hear a voice coming from inside the bed.

“Welcome back, Nii-san.”

“Uwaa! You surprised me…..”

“I’m sorry I startled you.”

“Why are you in my room!”

I got up and turned on the light.

“Isn’t it fine. We’re siblings.”

“……”

Siblings. Indeed, we were. At least, that’s what I think. My little sister is… No, I don’t want to doubt my little sister.

That’s why, I have to make sure.