Parents remarried. Now my lover starts referring to me as "Onii~chan" - Chapter 1 Part 3

–Come to think about it, did Neneka know about this re-marriage story beforehand?

I glanced towards Neneka to check on her present status.

We saw each other at school every day and also chatted there every day. However, I had never heard from Neneka’s mouth about her parent’s re-marriage even once.

I didn’t know that the re-marriage partner was about to bring Neneka with him, and I had planned to tell that to Neneka once I had settled down with my daily life for good. So, I did not tell her anything about my mother’s re-marriage plans.

Then how did it go on Neneka’s side? If Neneka had known about what was going to happen, would she have come up to talk about this topic at hand one day too…?

I observed Neneka’s facial expression to find out what was going on in her mind.

Neneka had a good-natured smile plastered on her, but her eyes were completely baffled.

… From the looks of it, it seemed that even Neneka didn’t care to properly learn the details of her father’s re-marriage in any way either…

I chuckled, imagining her inwardly panicking about it like “What to do! What to do!”

Then, next Neneka’s father introduced her to us.

“This is my daughter, Neneka. Daiki-kun and Neneka attend the same high school, but have you ever been in the same class before?”

No, we didn’t. But we were on the same club committee… or so when I was about to answer that… I became a little worried.

–Rather in fact, we were dating each other…

Should I say all this or should I not?

When I was in that dilemma, my sixth sense whispered to me.

No, rather wait. If suddenly so much information came out, and hearing all of this altogether, I never knew how Neneka’s father would react to all that.

He had such a gentle smile and demeanor, but what would happen if he happened to really adore his daughter very much?

If he was the type to say “I don’t approve of any boyfriends,” he might change when he finds out that I was her boyfriend. Then, there was even a possibility that my mother’s re-marriage would be abruptly broken off by him.

I supposed it would be better to wait and see how Neneka reacted to the situation…

When I stared at Neneka intently, she also reciprocated by staring at me intently.

When I somehow nodded my head, Neneka also nodded hers.

I had absolutely no idea what was conveyed, but I was sure something must have been conveyed, nevertheless.

And then Neneka answered her father’s question, before I could do that.

“Nope, we didn’t. Our high school has a lot of students and matching that, a lot of classes as well, so even after reaching third year of high school, there were a lot of students I’ve never even talked to yet…”

–Eh?

A sound like that almost escaped out from me, but I managed to swallow it down, not letting it escape. I never thought that Neneka would pretend this to be a “first-meeting” by any chance.

Despite my upset mental status, the first exchange between the two families proceeded peacefully.

“I heard that Daiki-kun was born in March while Neneka was born in May, so I suppose that would make Neneka the younger sibling-in-law.”

When Neneka’s father asked this, my mother said this as if to add on to what he said.

“Being schoolmates, I think it might be a little bit difficult to call one another Onii-chan or younger sister. I think it would be good if they could just keep a comfortable sense of distance between each other without worrying too much about it.”

Understood, so that was how it was. Since my mother and Neneka’s father were getting remarried to each other, so from today on, Neneka and I would become stepsiblings right?

–Hmm…

My girlfriend was now my stepsister?

Even though she was my girlfriend, was she also going to become my stepsister?

If that was so… What was going to happen then…?

The words “girlfriend” and “stepsister” somehow could not connect well together in my mind. I forgot that I was in the middle of greeting Neneka and her father and I stood there in a blur.

And then, I felt a tug on my right sleeve.

When I came back to myself, I saw the girl who had been with me more than anyone else for the past two months, was staring at me and smiling embarrassingly.

“I’m looking forward to staying with you from now on… Onii-chan.”

–O-nii-chan?

She was terribly cute when she said this, but there was no time to think how cute she was…

The fact that Neneka decided to call me “Onii-chan” meant that she was going to treat me like an older brother. So, it basically sounded like a message telling me… “Let’s keep the fact that we’re dating to ourselves hidden.”

Was she really sure about taking that stance here?

There were so many questions I wanted to ask her, but Neneka was nonchalantly going into the house while talking with my mother.

Up until moments ago, even Neneka had this expression showing surprise on how she also just knew about us becoming siblings… then what was with this speed of adaptation.

–Weren’t we both in a relationship?

While staring towards the back of Neneka I asked this in my mind.

Of course, there was no reply whatsoever.

Just when I had started to question that we were going out with each other, greeting time at the entrance ended.

And so, my mother with Neneka’s father, and me with Neneka… the life of us four living together began.”

After that, I helped Neneka carry her cardboard boxes and her belongings to her room on the second floor.

I thought it was a lot of luggage for a single man living alone, but now that I knew it was Neneka and Neneka’s father’s luggage together, I had an impression that it was rather less. There was only eight cardboard boxes to be brought to Neneka’s room.

“Neneka, is this all of your luggage?”

“Yes. The place I used to live at was a small apartment, so I didn’t have too much space for my stuff, and so, I only got the… bare minimum necessities that I would need.”

“Oh, so that’s why…”

Neneka’s room was the one next to mine.

I always had the thought that it was just an empty-room, but it seemed that my mother had cleaned it up before I had the knowledge of it. There was even a bed and a desk that I had no recollection of. It might have been when I was off to school, she might have been preparing this room all by herself.

–If this was going to be Neneka’s room, I wondered if Neneka’s father would be having the same room as my mother… Since, apart from that, there was only a small storage room like a rest-room.

When I was about to wonder how my parents would spend their time in their room for a minute, I immediately stopped. This periphery was something that shouldn’t be imagined too much about.

“Should I help you with the unpacking as well?”