Parents remarried. Now my lover starts referring to me as "Onii~chan" - Chapter 1 Part 10

“Do you want me to wear something cute? Or something mature?”

“Eh…? I think it should be fine with whatever you like and feel comfortable in…”

“Come on, think about it seriously…! Do you want something with a skirt? Or something like what I am wearing right now?”

As I tried to back away from Neneka, she climbed onto the bed following me.

And now, both Neneka and I were on my bed.

The distance between our faces had shrunk to just about twenty centimeters.

Her beautiful eyes were fixed on me. My gaze unintentionally drew towards Neneka’s coral-colored lips.

–Was this perhaps… a chance?

I fearfully touched Neneka’s cheek.

Neneka lowered her gaze and kept her eyes down a little, but she didn’t seem to dislike it.

Through my palms, I could feel Neneka’s body temperature rise.

I held my breath and closed the distance between Neneka and I.

Ten centimeters to go… five centimeters more to go…

–“Daiki? Hey Daiki!”

Clank.

Suddenly I heard my mother’s voice. The sound of her trying to open the door.

At that moment, before we could think of anything else, we immediately focused on creating a distance from each other.

“Daiki…! As you know, tomorrow I gave to go to work. Can you please make dinner for Ryosuke-san and Neneka-chan, to… Oh? Neneka-chan’s here too.”

A mother who entered her son’s room at the age of the peak of adolescence without knocking.

The enemy of all the adolescent boys entered the room with an unsuspecting look on her face and smiled when she spotted Neneka.

“Ah, YES! Onii-chan looked a little feverish, so I brought him some cool press!!”

Neneka quickly took out the cool press hiding beneath the towel on the bed and held it up.

“Oh my… Neneka-chan, you are so kind… As I thought girls are totally different after all!! They are all considerate! On the other hand, Daiki is… Even though he is around the same age as you, he still had to develop that sense…”

“Mom, you have no room to speak to me about consideration! How many times do I have to tell you not to open the door to my room all of a sudden!”

“Yes? Were you trying to do something you weren’t supposed to be seen doing?”

Being looked at with a prying eye from my mother, a sweat suddenly broke out on my forehead.

“I’m not saying that! I get startled when the door suddenly opens! Anyone would be in a hurry to look at who came in!”

“Scared aren’t you… You and Neneka-chan might have to stay home alone so you should act a little firmer. If you’re surprised by just a door suddenly opening up, you won’t be able to do anything when a sudden trouble arises in front of you, now can you?”

For some reason, my mother tried to hide her own lack of delicacy up on the shelf.

As I was trembling with anger, Neneka gave me a rescue boot.

“Umm… so stepmother has to go to work tomorrow, right? Do you mind if I prepare dinner for tomorrow?”

“What? Neneka-chan will? Is that okay?”

“Yes! I used to cook when I lived with my dad, so I’m used to it. I can’t guarantee the taste because it’s self-made… If possible, I would like Onii-chan and my new mother to try it as well and give pointers on how I could make it better.”

Hearing Neneka’s words, my mother responded, “Maa…!” and held her hands in front of her mouth.

My mother’s eyes looked moist and sparkling.

That was because she had to live with someone insensitive for so many years. If she came across a “model daughter” such as Neneka, she would probably cry seeing the gap in our personalities. No, I think Neneka would be better described as a “model wife.”

–No matter what others might say, I could only think of Neneka to be an example of a “good wife” in the future…

I didn’t know if it was because she grew up in a single-father household or if it was her natural disposition. But if one were to describe Neneka in one word “cozy” would be a word which would perfectly describe her.

Even a male friend of mine said that, “I don’t really want to see her as my girlfriend, but I think that if I were to marry someone, it would be someone like Torii-san.” Well I almost made an enemy out of this friend for what he said in the first half, but I completely agreed with what he said later on.

My mother, who was totally eased by Neneka’s lovely response, walked out of the room in a good mood, while waving her hands.

“Well then, good night.”

“Good night.”

“Good night.”

When the door closed, I was once again alone with Neneka. But we stayed still, holding our breaths, until we didn’t hear my mother’s footsteps anymore.

“She’s gone I guess…”

We let out a big sigh and relaxed our shoulders.

Being so used to living in this house, I knew that my mother went to the living room.

As I laid on my back on the bed, Neneka giggled.

“I was so nervous.”

“Yeah… I thought my heart was going to stop…”

Then I remembered the things we were doing earlier…

But Neneka headed for the door as if nothing had happened. I followed her with my eyes.

“Well, I think it’s time for me to head back to my room.”

“Ah, umm… you must be tired after all the moving today, rest well.”

“Thank you.”

Neneka placed her hand on the doorknob, but suddenly turned around.

“In front our parents, I am Onii-chan’s sister… But when we are alone, I am Daiki’s girlfriend, ok?”

Seeing her say that shyly was unbearably cute.

As I watched Neneka disappear behind the door, my soul remained on the verge of slipping away.

–I wondered if I would really be okay living with such a cute girlfriend?

But if I was asked “Why would you think that?” It would be hard to answer.

While asking myself these questions, I wished that no one would ask me the “Why” part in the future.