My Little Sister Suddenly Confessed to Me, but What Am I Supposed to Do by Dating My Little Sister? - Chapter 84 & 85 & 86

Chapter 84: The Greatest Weapon, The Greatest Weakness

Before entering the main facility, we strolled through the park. We walked around the flower beds and looked at the “Tomoe Gakuen” train cars on display.

What caught my eye most was the reconstruction of the Kurohime Highland Mountain Villa—Chi*hiro’s former atelier and summer home. The interior evokes the Showa era; while you can’t go inside, you can see the furnishings and atelier tools from the outside. But what captivated Shiori and me the most was a photograph displayed at the back.

“There’s something… really nice about this…”

“Yeah… it’s lovely…”

It was a photo from back then, showing the villa standing quietly in the highlands, tucked away in the woods. The image carried a sense of solitude. Since I’ve never been fond of crowds, I found myself longing for that quiet, secluded house.

“Living quietly in a place like this… might be nice…”
The words slipped out, and I immediately pulled myself back to reality.

Right now, I’m acting as if this is a casual date, but we are strictly “siblings.”

Shiori says she loves me as more than a brother, while I still try to see her only as my sister.

But if I ever truly recognize her as a lover…

In reality, we’ve almost kissed, and I know my feelings for her are shifting.

If we were to become a couple, we certainly wouldn’t be blessed by everyone. In fact, we might lose our parents, relatives, friends—everything.

I don’t have the resolve to love her in spite of that. Or maybe I do? Because when I saw that photo of the lonely villa in the woods, the person I imagined leaning against me in that quiet life was Shiori. I couldn’t help it.

But I don’t have the resolve to drag her into my solitude. I can’t take responsibility for her entire life.

She has many friends, she’s brilliant, she can do anything. I don’t have the heart to steal the future of this genius…

“Onii-chan? What’s wrong?”

“Hm? Oh, nothing…”

“You’re drenched in sweat.”

“Ah, it’s just a bit hot outside. Let’s head inside soon.”

“Really? I thought it was cool today. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I might just be a little tired. There’s a cafe inside, I’ll be fine once I rest there.”

“Okay! I wonder if they have cake~~”

Shiori clung to my arm as usual, unbothered by my sweat-dampened skin. Unlike yesterday, her outfit was simple: a white blouse with wide sleeves, a necklace with a heart charm, a white mini-skirt with a bordered hem, and heeled sandals. The contrast between her black hair and white clothes was beautiful.

The sensation of her chest against my arm brought back the image from the bathroom two nights ago…

I just said I didn’t have the resolve to carry her life on my shoulders, but…

I’m a guy! I get excited too! I know it’s weird to feel this way about a sister, but that’s just a general rule. Other siblings are no reference for us!!

Because my sister is the cutest in the world!! Don’t compare her to your sisters!!!

This is bad. My reason is crumbling…

#######

We went into the cafe before looking at the exhibits. On the table stood a small vase of wildflowers, perhaps picked from the park. It was a modest but tidy shop. I ordered coffee, and Shiori ordered a cake set.

Drinking the coffee finally helped me calm down…

My apologies for earlier. I lost my composure. Everyone else’s sisters are cute too, I suppose—just slightly less so than mine…

“Here, Onii-chan. Ahhh~~”

She held out a piece of cake, and I ate it normally. I’ve grown used to the “ahhh” by now. However, I haven’t quite gotten used to the suspicious look on the waitress’s face when she heard her call me “Onii-chan.”

“They have ‘Picture Books of the World’~~ I wonder what they’re like? Are they in English?”
Shiori looked over the pamphlet happily as she ate her cake.

Seeing her like that, I realized she seemed to be enjoying herself much more than usual today.

“I’m glad you’re having fun.”
I felt like I had forced my hobbies on her by bringing her here, so I was relieved. But Shiori wasn’t just enjoying the museum.

“Of course I am~~ Mitsuki-chan has been stealing Onii-chan away ever since we got here!”

“Do you hate Mitsuki?”
I asked her the same thing I had asked Mitsuki.

“Not at all. She’s cute, like a little sister.”

“Then why are you so aggressive with her?”
She wasn’t this hostile with Michiru, and it’s different from the aggression she showed the Student Council President. It feels like… two children fighting over a toy. Am I the toy?

“Because… Mitsuki-chan is my strongest enemy. My greatest weapon doesn’t work on her…”

“Greatest weapon?”

“My connection to Onii-chan… the bond of being siblings.”

“If you ever fall in love with someone and… end up with them… my bond as your sister won’t change. That’s my greatest weapon. It’s the same for Mitsuki-chan. No matter what happens, her relationship as your cousin won’t change. But Mitsuki-chan has overcome my greatest weakness…”

“Greatest weakness?”

“Mitsuki-chan… can actually marry you, Onii-chan.”

Shiori’s face broke into a smile. A truly beautiful, wonderful smile—the kind that makes you think she’s incredibly lovely.

If only a single tear hadn’t escaped from her eye…

“D-don’t be stupid. She’s an elementary schooler. There’s no way she’s getting married.”
It was still before noon, so there weren’t many other customers. The staff was in the kitchen and hadn’t noticed us. I stroked Shiori’s head to comfort her.

“But~~ you are a lolicon, Onii-chan~~”

My hand stopped dead at the unforgivable remark she tossed out with a pouting, feigned innocence.

“Don’t say such scandalous things! Who’s a lolicon?!”

“Ehhh, but~~ when you were in the bath two nights ago, you looked so happy. And the moment you saw me, you panicked like crazy. Didn’t that mean you were doing something lewd with Mitsuki-chan~~?”

EXCUSE ME?!

“Wha— I— she— gah—…”
My voice… won’t come out…

“Onii-chan, your face is bright red. Just drink your coffee and calm down.”

Prompted, I took a sip of coffee. Okay, I’m calm. Ah, ah… my voice works. Here goes…

“I WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING LEWD TO AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLER!!!!!!!!”

Shiori giggled at my outburst.

But then, two waitresses peeked out from the kitchen, looking at me as if I were a piece of absolute filth…

“Did he just say… elementary schooler…? Call the police…”

The whispers drifted from the back of the kitchen… Give me a break… There are so many children around here…

Chapter 85: Is Washing Hair Lewd?

“I’m begging you, Shiori~~~”

To avoid any reports to the police, I chugged my coffee and scrambled out of the shop.

“But Onii-chan, ever since we got here, you’ve been doting on Mitsuki-chan.”

“I have not! Was I really doting on her that much?”

I don’t even like Mitsuki that much! (Probably.)

“Geez, you’re so doting that from an outsider’s perspective, you look like a total lolicon. Be careful not to get arrested~~”

“Ugh, yes, I’ll be careful…”

I’m not sure how exactly I’m supposed to be “careful,” but seeing that I (apparently) didn’t have romantic feelings for Mitsuki made my sister’s mood improve.

Though, I suppose it’s my fault she’s been so quick to cry lately…

“Come on, let’s go look, Onii-chan.”

Still, I just can’t wrap my head around it… All I did was take a bath and sleep in the same room as my cousin.

How does that make someone a lolicon? I don’t get it at all~~

The museum is divided into the “Picture Books of the World” hall and the “Chi*hiro Hall.”

We headed to the Chi*hiro exhibit first.

You’ve probably seen them—watercolors of children, painted with soft outlines and a heavy use of blurs and bleeds.

As we walked past several works, I felt my heart being cleansed.

This is what “healing” art truly is. It really does remind me of Asami.

‘Ehhh, do I really look like this?’ she’d probably complain, but that smile where her eyes turn into lines would surely heal me…

I want to show Asami these paintings sometime, but I can’t exactly bring her here.

Ah, right, there’s a museum in Tokyo too. Maybe I’ll invite her… wait, Shiori would be terrifying…

“Hmm, it’s nothing but children. As expected, Onii-chan, you’re a loli…”

“…………”

Ugh, the timing of bringing her here might have been the absolute worst…

As we looked at the works for a while, my sister’s pace began to slow.

She looked as though she was deep in thought while viewing the art.

Then, she stopped in front of a single painting and stared at it intently.

She looked serious, with an expression that seemed both displeased and troubled.

“What’s wrong?”

Her seriousness was such that I hesitated to call out, but standing still for over ten minutes was unusual.

I asked her while looking at the painting beside her.

The painting Shiori was looking at was of a young girl with wavy hair, standing with a somewhat sorrowful expression.

The children in Chi*hiro’s paintings don’t have much expression.

That figure overlapped with Asami, who used to stare blankly in the classroom back in middle school.

She finally started smiling recently, but it took over a year for that sorrowful expression to turn into a smile.

But thinking about it now—and I shouldn’t say this, nor do I want her to go back—but…

I really liked that sorrowful expression Asami used to have…

“Onii-chan?”

Now it was my turn to get lost in thought while looking at the painting.

“Ah, sorry. It’s a good painting.”

“Yeah, it’s very cute… but somehow, it’s annoying…”

“…Annoying?”

“Yeah, Onii-chan! This is… Asami-chan, isn’t it? …”

“Ehhh!!”

Oh no, she caught me. Wait, she can tell? Seriously…? My sister is way too scary…

“I knew it… This atmosphere is definitely Asami-chan! Thinking about it that way… I hate thisss! This place is full of Asami-chans! That’s cruel!”

“Eh, no, well, sorry…”

I couldn’t say it wasn’t, but I couldn’t say it was everything either.

I felt bad for my sister and reflexively apologized.

“I hate it! I won’t forgive youuuu!”

“Ehhh, no, I mean, saying it’s full of Asami is an exaggeration. Look, there are cute boys too, right?”

“That boy has no hair color… silver hair… that’s Michiru-chan! I hate this alreadyyyyy!”

“No, no, Michiru isn’t this ‘fluffy.’ Don’t force the connection.”

“Look, look, this girl over here. She has a bit of a sharp look, she’s a totally different type from Asami, right?”

“Twin-tail loli… that’s Shirai-sensei againnnnn!”

Ah, it’s hopeless. No matter what I show her, she’ll force a connection…

“Ah, right, the Picture Books of the World. You said you wanted to see them, right? Let’s go.”

I pushed my extremely displeased sister by the back to go see the world’s picture books…

“I can’t read the books anyway…”

“Ah, I see…”

It wasn’t that we could read the books, but rather an exhibit of paintings by overseas picture book authors and their history.

“Onii-chan is cruel~~ Showing me something like thissss…”

It was obviously fake crying, but my sister covered her eyes and sobbed.

“No, ‘something like this’… they’re good paintings, right? I used a placeholder for the name, but since criticizing it would be bad, I should have just said I wanted to show you paintings that look like Asami…”

“Onii-chan, make it up to me!”

“Make it up to you? Why?!”

“Because! Because I worked so hard yesterday and beat Mitsuki-chan! We finally got our date, and yet… this is cruel, right? Cruel!!”

“Um, well, I guess so…?”

“Wahhhhh, you’re cruelllll!”

My sister started crying again, looking down.

The other customers began to notice the strangeness of the situation. Oh no, I’m going to be reported again. Well, I’ve never actually been reported yet.

“Alright, alright! What do I have to do to make it up to you?”

My sister lifted her face, eyes bright red, and said with a beaming smile:

“Do the exact same… lewd things… you did to Mitsuki-chan in the bath and in bed on the first day… to me too!!!”

“…………….Um, were you still doubting me? L-l-lewd things… I didn’t do anything like thatttttt!!!”

Seriously, everyone reading this is my witness! Right? I didn’t do it, right?

“Then you can do the same thing for me, right, Onii-chan!”

All I did was wash her hair, get in the bath together, and sleep in the same room.

But… doing that to my sister? Seriously…?

Chapter 86: Is Washing Hair Lewd?

We left the museum and came to a place for a slightly late lunch.

I certainly couldn’t go back to the museum’s cafe—I’d be reported. Earlier, a staff member even came over to ask if everything was alright, and I fled in a panic… I didn’t even get to buy any souvenirs.

“Onii-chan, this place is a bit mediocre, isn’t it?”

My sister made a face after taking a bite of her doria.

“I’m just glad I didn’t say exactly where we were… No, that’s not it. Shiori, about what you said earlier.”

Waiting for my own food to arrive, I started talking about the bath incident again.

“Hm?”

“No, don’t just tilt your head with a spoon in your mouth and say ‘hm?’ It’s cute, but… about earlier. It’s really not okay.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? Getting in together is just wrong.”

Is there seriously nothing but bath talk this time? Isn’t there anything else to talk about…?

“Why?”

“I mean… aren’t you embarrassed?”

“Are you embarrassed, Onii-chan?”

“Of course I am! Aren’t you, Shiori?”

“Not at all. But you got in with Mitsuki-chan, didn’t you? Is it not embarrassing with Mitsuki-chan, but embarrassing with me?”

“Well, uh, I mean…”

“Why?”

“Uhh…”

Why, indeed? Now that she mentioned it… is it because Mitsuki is young? Does being young make it not embarrassing? But while Mitsuki looks young, her mind isn’t childish at all. If anything, my sister is the more childish one…

“Geez, Onii-chan! It’s fine, right?! You did it with Mitsuki-chan, so it’s unfair~~ It’s always Mitsuki-chan this, Mitsuki-chan that~~”

My sister tapped the table with the hand holding her spoon. I worried about our surroundings, but since the food here was mediocre, the customers were sparse and no one noticed us.

“Mitsuki is still a child, right?”

“I’m still a child too!”

“No, Mitsuki is 9, and you’re 15, Shiori. The ages are completely different.”

“Listen, Onii-chan. In this day and age, between a 9-year-old and a 15-year-old, isn’t the 9-year-old the one who shouldn’t be getting in the bath with you?”

“No, both are off-limits.”

“And yet you did it with Mitsuki-chan. Heeeh… hmm… I knew it…”

I told you, I am not a lolicon!!

“No, no, no! I just washed her hair! I didn’t do anything!”

“Then you can do it for me too~~ Unfair! Always Mitsuki-chan, it’s so unfairrrrr!”

Ugh, here comes the selfishness. What am I supposed to do? My reason is seriously at its limit…

“Fine! Then let’s wear swimsuits in the bath!”

“Ehhh? Wearing a swimsuit in the house bath? You sound like a pervert, Onii-chan.”

“Sorry for being a pervert! But Shiori, you’re a pervert too for forcing mixed bathing on your brother!”

“It’s not forcing, it’s a request!”

“If it’s a request, I’m allowed to decline, right?”

“Heeh… So Onii-chan listens to Mitsuki-chan’s requests, but not mine. I see…”

“Why do you want to get in together so badly? Do you want to see me naked that much? You pervert, Shiori.”

When I said that, my sister turned bright red and looked down.

“I do want to see…”

“Eh?”

She lifted her head and stared at me, her face still crimson. But that redness wasn’t just from embarrassment.

“I want to know everything about you, Onii-chan, from corner to corner! I hate the idea of Mitsuki-chan knowing things I don’t! The one who knows the most about you—the one who knows everything—is me! I hate not being the first!!”

“And I want you to know more about me! Look at me more! If you wash Mitsuki-chan’s hair, wash mine too! I wanted to be the first one you did that for. I hate it if I’m not your number one. I hate it if I’m not your last. I can’t take it anymore. I don’t want to have regrets. I want to be your number one, and I want you to be mine. I hate it otherwise… I hate it…”

She looked down again, trembling slightly. She seemed to be shaking from the guilt of dumping all her anger, sadness, and jealousy on me, on Mitsuki, and on herself—fearful that I might hate her for it.

I thought for a bit and, though my thoughts weren’t fully organized, I told her how I felt.

“…Umm, I think of you as the cutest sister in the world, Shiori. To be honest… I want to see more too. I want to know more, and touch more. But… I’m sorry. I don’t have that kind of resolve. I don’t have the resolve to make you mine… to make you my lover. I don’t have the resolve to do things beyond what a brother can do… I can’t. Dates are fine. Sleeping in the same room is fine. But anything more and I won’t hold out. I won’t be able to stop myself. I won’t be able to suppress my desires. I don’t want to hurt you, Shiori.”

“…I wouldn’t be hurt no matter what you did to me, Onii-chan.”

She looked up and smiled at me. That smile and those words almost made my reason shatter instantly.

“Even so, it’s no good. I hurt you before by saying we should ‘just try dating.’ Sometimes granting all of your wishes isn’t what’s best for you—or for me.”

“…………”

My sister stared at me in silence. I stared back.

We looked at each other for a long time, neither of us knowing what to say. Then, Shiori finally spoke.

“But… I hate having a gap between me and Mitsuki-chan… I hate losing…”

She said that she still couldn’t accept things as they were—she didn’t want it to end here.

“Then how about this…?”

I made the maximum concession possible—a proposal that was at the absolute limit of what I could handle.

“Okay!!”

My sister nodded at my suggestion.

…Are we really still dragging this bit out…?