Parents remarried. Now my lover starts referring to me as "Onii~chan" - Chapter 2 Part 1

Chapter 2

“I’ll be on my way.”

“Ok… Be careful both of you…”

Neneka and I left the house after being sent off by my mother before she left for work.

Not too close, not too far… We were still walking together, but were also keeping a distance between us.

We walked silently without talking.

We walked several hundred meters away before our house was no longer in sight. After that, we turned around the corner and sighed heavily at the same time.

I smiled involuntarily without a thought.

“As I thought, it’s really nerve-racking when we are in front of our mother.”

“Umm… my mind is just not at ease when we are at home.”

Neneka also started smiling.

As we headed towards the station, we looked back on the events that happened this weekend.

“Our parents looked really happy didn’t they? Perhaps, seeing us on good terms made them relieved.”

“Usually, if two classmates were to suddenly live together, the amount of awkwardness flowing in the air would be too much at first…”

“Well, I don’t think cobras and mongooses really cared for each other while keeping their distance…”

They were trying to reach a comfortable distance from each other.

Cobra and mongoose were natural enemies. They did not try and get into a comfortable distance while engaging each other.

“It’s been two months since Neneka and I started dating, there are times when we actually start communicating with one another naturally. On the contrary, I’m glad that they didn’t grow suspicious of us because of that.”

“Well… I think that our parents are having fun being in their own world right now…”

“That’s true as well…”

Neneka and I had to see our parents doting over each other so much yesterday that we never wanted to see it again.

My mother had work today so thankfully we didn’t have to see them flirt in front of us for that long. However, seeing our parents’ eyes turn into a heart-shape when they were near each other kind of made us wonder what they were thinking…

If we had seen our parents being lovey-dovey for each other from birth, it would have probably been a completely different story altogether. However, minding the fact that we had lost one of our parents in our childhood and then seeing this happen. The gap created was terribly daunting.

–Ah… Yes, yes. We could completely understand that they had been devoting themselves to raise us for all these years, and we also understood how happy they were to be able to finally live their life with someone they truly liked, and we wouldn’t bother them regarding that. BUT… have some restraint damnit!!

Was what it made us say in reaction, a sweet sight that made us want to vomit in the inside whenever that happened in front of us.

Even though they were not kissing in front of us, but watching them expressing their love for each other constantly kind of made us cringe.

Somehow, if we saw that and reacted, we had a feeling that we lost… in a different sense.

My parents were trying to squeeze out every bit of happiness for each other and almost everyday.

So much so that even if their children were unnaturally close to each other, they wouldn’t even be suspicious of their relationship.

“Come to think of it, aren’t you also “Torii” now, Daiki? Should I call you Torii-kun at school?”

Neneka leaned her head and asked.

“Ah, that’s right. Neneka, I forgot to tell you. On the family registration, I am Torii Daiki, but I had my mother talk with the school so that I could still go by “Morita.”

“Eh? Is that so?”

“Yeah, it would be kind of embarrassing if my family name changed all of a sudden. Even my mom is keeping hers at work. Although I didn’t hear the complete details of my mom’s re-marriage, I did talk to her about this issue, and I thought that it was good enough. Well, it’s also that, I don’t want to be treated as Neneka’s brother at school.”

“Me too! I also don’t want anyone to treat me as Daiki’s little sister besides our family. I’m also glad that our thoughts were alike. I guess if we keep quiet about it at school, we won’t have to worry about people finding out.”

Besides that fact that we now had common surnames, there was only one Torii present in our grade. What’s more was that, we were perceived by others as someone quite close with one another.

If I suddenly happened to call myself “Torii-kun,” our classmates would probably become suspicious of a possible special relationship between Neneka and I immediately.

“The teachers will know, but I don’t think the students will get the message unless I tell them myself. So I want to ask you, do you want to tell the people around you that we’ve become siblings, Neneka?”

“Eh? No way!”

It was an immediate answer.

As I was still surprised that she answered without hesitation, Neneka followed up fidgeting.

“Ah, just to clarify. I’m not exactly embarrassed to address Daiki as “Onii-chan” okay? It’s just that I don’t want to be made fun of! I’m sure you know that there are people who make a big fuss just because they have two classmates living with each other in the same house, right? “

“Ah, umm… Come to think of it. It’s true.”

Some people did have wild imaginations, and we would definitely be troubled if we were asked questions that would delve into our privacy. It would definitely make school life uneasy.

“Then, how about we bury down any info in school that said we recently became siblings, okay?”

“Umm. Let’s do it that way.”

“Understood.”

We would keep the fact that were now siblings a secret at school. When that was decided, a question suddenly came up and I asked Neneka.

“That’s right, just a question, but did you tell anyone that we were dating?”

Had Neneka told anyone since we started dating? It wasn’t like we shouldn’t tell anyone about it or anything so…

“U-Umm… I haven’t told anyone yet. My friends don’t usually talk about love or things like that… so it was kind of hard for me to say it anyways. How about you Daiki?”

“Actually, in my case, since I’m an examinee, I only got friends who would criticize me for having enough free time to get into a relationship… All in all, I didn’t tell anyone either.”

“As expected… I’m likely to be to be told the same.”

Whether we had examinations or not, people should be free to go out with each other whenever they wanted. Though, since we didn’t like to stand out in our class, we didn’t want to become a part of the latest gossip around the school.

“Right, let’s hide the fact that we’re a couple at school. It could be dangerous if our classmates found out since rumors like those could easily reach our parents. Well, even if we somehow keep our parents from knowing, then our classmates would make a fuss about us living together under the same roof as stepsiblings, which may even go out of control.”

When I said that, Neneka smiled bitterly.

“That would definitely cause a scene. It would be hard trying to study for the entrance exams if that happened…”

The fact that we were dating must be kept a secret from both our parents and even our friends at school.

In addition to all of that, our classmates must never find out that I became Neneka’s Oniichan.

With that our conversation came to an end.

However, I was worried whether Neneka was really okay with this conclusion.

Girls loved talking about love. Maybe Neneka also wanted to excitedly talk about love with her friends.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

Neneka tilted her head, noticing that I was in deep thought.

“Ah, that… Neneka, I wondered if it’s really okay with you?”

“About what?”

“Won’t you feel lonely? You won’t be able to tell anyone that we’re dating.”