Chapter 7

“Yo, good work out there.”

“Kenji.”

It had been a week since they started their second year. At Nagatsuki Academy, they held a sports tournament right after the new term began—a so-called recreation event to deepen relationships. Boys and girls were split into separate teams, and everyone was required to join in either dodgeball, volleyball, basketball, or table tennis.

Akito wanted to watch Emily in action during her volleyball match, so he signed up for table tennis and threw his match. Since then, he’d been intently watching Emily, who waved at him with a big smile every time their eyes met.

“So, how’d basketball go?”

“Second place. We were so close.”

As Kenji muttered this in frustration, Akito scooted over on the bench to make space. Kenji said, “Thanks,” and took the open spot.

At that moment, a loud cheer echoed through the gymnasium, and occasionally, he could hear guys yelling, “Emiri-chwaaan!!” in sickly-sweet voices. It sounded like Emily had just scored with an impressive spike.

Hearing that, Akito furrowed his brows, and Kenji sighed as he noticed.

“Takigawa-san’s quite the popular one.”

“What’s with the sudden comment out of nowhere?”

“Well, Takigawa-san’s head over heels for you, so I don’t think anyone’s going to steal her away.”

“…What are you talking about?”

“What? Aren’t you two dating? I mean, you’re step-siblings, but since you’re not blood-related, I fully support you and Takigawa-san—”

“…Emily and I aren’t dating.”

Hearing this, time seemed to momentarily freeze around Kenji. But he quickly snapped out of it and shouted, “Whaaaat! You’re telling me you’re not dating after all that?!”

“Yeah, seriously. She hasn’t confessed to me or anything.”

“…Wait, seriously? She hasn’t?”

“Nope.”

Akito turned his gaze from Kenji back to where Emily was playing volleyball.

“I mean, I noticed… about three months after we became step-siblings, Emily started being a lot more touchy-feely.”

“Uh, yeah…”

“At first, I thought, ‘Wait, does Emily actually like me?’ The idea made me really self-conscious around her… and yeah, there was a time when I started liking her as a girl.”

But then, Akito continued.

“Emily always hugs me and holds my hand, but no matter how much time passes, she never confesses.”

“…Then why didn’t you just confess to her?”

“…Ha, do you think I have that kind of courage?”

“What a wimp, you.”

“I am a wimp! Do you realize how terrifying it’d be if I worked up the courage to confess and she hit me with a ‘Verzeihung’ [Sorry]? I’d die! What would I do if things got weird between us and the family because of it?!”

“Hey, I deal with that every day.”

Akito stood up from the bench, shouting. Luckily, the gym was noisy enough that nobody noticed him.

“So tell me, honestly—how does it feel being all touchy-feely with Tatekawa-san every day, ‘big brother’?”

“Don’t call me ‘big brother.’ I’ll knock you out.”

“Come on, you know I have a girlfriend…”

Kenji let out an exasperated sigh, his voice dripping with disbelief at Akito’s blatant sister complex.

“And as for the whole touchy-feely thing… of course, I’m happy. I get to hold hands, link arms, and even hug that beautiful girl every day. How could I not be happy? Do you have any idea how much time I spend trying to convince myself, ‘It’s just friendly affection’?”

With a deep sigh, Akito plopped back down on the bench. In short, he was just putting up a brave front.

“…So, are you saying you ‘like’ Tatekawa-san or not?”

“…I don’t know. If you’d asked me in the past, I could’ve immediately said I liked her. But now, I can’t tell if it’s that kind of love or just a family affection.”

Kenji watched Akito scratch his head, silently noting, this is serious.

(…Alright, I guess it’s my turn now.)

Kenji remembered when Akito helped him with his own romantic struggles.

(This time, I’ll do what I can to bring Akito and Tateawa-san together… though, it seems like it’ll be ridiculously easy.)