Parents remarried. Now my lover starts referring to me as "Onii~chan" - Chapter 1 Part 6

When suddenly remembering the naked body of Neneka I saw earlier, I felt a warm current circling around my body.

–Calm down, me!

This was definitely not the time to hit my own water switch damnit!

Realizing that the hot water named worldly desires was about to flow in the bathtub. I shooked my head in a hurry.

I must not remember Neneka naked now. If I did that, in no time my own bath water would boil over the limit.

“Daiki… what are you going to do now?”

From the other side of the door, Neneka’s anxious voice came about.

“Umm… I guess… I want to get out of here as well so I am thinking about something already…”

Because of the long bath I had earlier, and the hot water shower left running, the bathroom was a sauna, I was worried that I was going to get myself sick if I didn’t do something now.

I began to think of a solution to this situation.

“How about Neneka pretends to have taken a bath, changes into her clothes, and leaves first? Wouldn’t it be better if we set it up so that I hadn’t actually taken a bath yet, and we could pretend that I took a bath after Neneka took hers?”

“That’s impossible! Absolutely impossible! I got really sweaty because of the work with moving out, so I definitely want to take a bath! Moreover, they’ll easily find out that I did not take a bath because of the smell!”

“Then there is no other choice than to somehow move Neneka to the bathroom as I move to the changing room, huh…”

There was one door connecting the bathroom to the changing room. The passage was so narrow that even with the door fully opened, two people could barely pass each other. In order to make this move successful, first of all, it was impossible for us not to see each other.

–I could withstand being seen, But I would better not look at Neneka any more than I already did… No, that’s not all. For my own sake, it would be better if I don’t see Neneka naked anymore.

Thinking that, I made the following suggestion.

“Then, let’s first have you put on your clothes… and after that, I’ll leave the changing room up front!”

“Wait, wait! Daiki, you came here completely naked, didn’t you? You’re thinking about going out of the changing room completely naked, right?”

“Yeah.”

“What if, in that case, your mother accidentally sees you in the process…”

“Sees me in the process…?”

A simulation began in my brain.

I escaped from the changing room naked. And after that, my mother and the naked me ran against each other. My mother, on encountering this naked me froze up for a moment, and then she exclaimed loudly.

“Eh!? Don’t tell me did you perhaps just take a bath!? If I am correct, isn’t Neneka-chan taking a bath right now!? Don’t tell me you both were in there together…!?”

My mother in my brain simulation went into a panic mode as she called out loudly for Neneka’s father. And then, on arriving, Neneka’s father would see me naked…

“… That’s not a good idea.”

The me inside that brain simulation safely reached a bad end… game over as I was forced into reality where I was presently in.

“Right? Even you thought it would be bad, didn’t you. Are you certain that you could make it to your room without being found out… Are you confident that you would absolutely be fine?”

“No, absolutely not.”

My mother, on her days off from work was going around the house so much that it even made me wonder what was making her so busy to keep on wandering around the house.

She seemed to have a lot of things to do on her days off because she couldn’t get around to do much housework during the week.

Today was the day new family members arrived, so she was even more excited than usual, I couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t run into her while making my way back to my room.

I guess the best solution would be to have Neneka finish her bath and leave the bathroom first.

“Ahh, let’s just wash me in the washing machine already…”

“Wah!”

I involuntarily let out a weird sound as Neneka suddenly started saying something strange.

“Hey, Daiki! This is not the time to be laughing!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s just that, I thought that it was Neneka after all.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

“Since you came to my house, you have been acting like you are not the Neneka I know even though you are Neneka. I became really worried when you pretended to meet me for the first time in front of my mom and your father and even called me “Onii-chan” and stuff.”

“…”

“Neneka also didn’t know that her father and my mom were getting remarried right?”

“Yeah… I didn’t want to oppose his re-marriage from the beginning, moreover I had just started dating Daiki, so I was completely full just thinking about myself…”

“It was the same with me…”

“But I cannot call you Daiki anymore. From today, it must be Onii-cha–“

“No, no, wait a moment there, isn’t it alright calling me by my name?”

“I’m your stepsister after all. Since Daiki is my elder stepbrother it has to be Onii-chan, don’t you agree as well.”

Suddenly Neneka’s voice became hard and cold. Even though we had been dating as if we were quite close, meeting at school just a while ago, I felt as if the distance between us had suddenly increased.

“Let’s talk about it later. Right now, we need to deal with this situation first.”

My heart felt rattled up. But, as Neneka said, we couldn’t stay here forever.

I proposed the best solution I just came up with, a minute ago.

“Then, let’s do it this way. First, while I’m in the bathroom facing the wall, Neneka gets into the bathtub. Once Neneka is in the bathtub, I will evacuate to the changing room and wait. When Neneka finishes bathing, you stay in the bathtub, while I move into the bathroom and keep facing the wall. Then, Neneka will go to the changing room and change her clothes.”

“Oh. And so, after I leave the bathroom, I can just keep our parents stranded in the living room or something!” Then you don’t need to worry about our parents seeing you return to your room completely naked.”

“This plan is perfect. Isn’t it…?”

“… Umm. But, even so, it’s not that we can miss seeing each other completely…”

I said, hearing the worries from Neneka.

“… Since we’re dating, isn’t that good enough? We’ve been dating for two months already and haven’t kissed yet, but we aren’t strangers enough wanting to hide everything. If we continue to date, we might have opportunities to show each other our everything… On the other hand, if you refuse to show me anything at all over here, it will definitely hurt me a little.”

Then I heard Neneka’s weak voice from the other side of the door.

“But… we’ve become brother and sister, even if we are just stepsiblings… “

“Yeah… that’s a surprise, but it doesn’t change our relationship does it? Don’t tell me, Neneka, do you wish to break up with me now that we’re stepsiblings?”

When I asked, Neneka was silent.

Then, somewhat later, came the reply.

“I… don’t want to break up. But I think we will have to break up.”

At those words spoken by Neneka, my heart started behaving strangely.

Being shaken up, I saw my mouth going dry as my hands shooked a little.

“Eh? But why?”

“Because siblings can’t get married to each other, and in order for me to eventually marry Daiki, and if I still want to, I’ll have to break up my dad’s re-marriage after all…! At long last, when I can see my dad has a chance to be happy again, I can’t let him leave it just because of this selfish desire of mine…!!”

“Neneka…”

I couldn’t make out the expression Neneka was making from the other side of the room. But I could hear from her voice that she was about to cry.

Maybe the reason she pretended to meet me for the first time and tried to avoid talking to me when she was unpacking was because she was thinking that we had to break up?

“Yes. You can’t fall in love with a brother and sister. It’s a violation of the law…”

“Umm… but… stepsiblings can usually fall in love and even get married, right?”

“Eh?”

Silence…

Neneka’s rebut ceased.

Then, after a while, Neneka said in a dubious voice.

“… Just now… What did you say?”

Hearing Neneka’s dubious question, I suddenly realized.

Could it be that Neneka did not know that stepsiblings had the freedom to love each other?

“Even if we become… stepsiblings, Neneka and I could still get married, right? Since we are not blood-related.”