Reincarnated as the Promiscuous Protagonist in a Netori Game, Only to Find the Heroine, My Step-Sister, Already Threatened to Be a Submissive Slave~ Liberating the Slave and Planning to Leave Home, Yet Unexpectedly Becoming Loved by My Step-Sister~ - Chapter 7 - I Want to Believe

Chapter 7 – I Want to Believe

Lunch break.

“Arisa-san, would you like to have lunch together?”

“Thank you for the invitation. But I’m sorry. I have plans with someone today.”

“I see. That can’t be helped. I’m sorry.”

“Let’s eat together next time!”

Tsumugi left the classroom with her lunch.

She headed for the back of the school building where there were no people.

It was a secret spot where she would meet up with her lover, Reo Kaido. The couple hadn’t publicly revealed their relationship, so they would often meet up secretly.

Today was the first time in a long time that Tsumugi had invited Reo to lunch.

She planned to tell him everything, about her mother’s remarriage and her new step brother.

“Ah, Reo-kun——”

Seeing her lover, Tsumugi felt her heart fluttering. Without thinking, she began to run towards him.

“…Stop, stay away from me.”

Reo pushed his right hand out and gestured for her not to come close.

Tsumugi hurriedly stopped in her tracks.

For some reason, her lover’s eyes seemed dark and murky.

“I-Is something wrong, Reo-kun…?”

She was shaken by her lover’s unusual behavior, but she mustered the courage to ask. Her heart was pounding loudly, making it hard for her to ignore.

“You’re the one who did something wrong, Tsumugi…”

“Eh…?”

“…Tsukishiro Takuma. You were walking with that playboy, weren’t you…?”

As Reo grimly muttered, he covered his own face with one hand and then showed his smartphone.

There, indeed, was a picture of Tsumugi walking next to his older brother, Tsukishiro Takuma.

It was dusk—so that photo was their way home yesterday.

Someone saw us…?

“You two went inside a house I don’t recognize together…”

Reo doesn’t even know about Tsumugi’s mother’s remarriage or her new home.

“Did you become his woman…?”

“No, it’s not like that. My parents remarried and he’s my brother. P-Please listen. It’s really not what you think. He’s also had a change of heart—”

“I don’t need excuses.”

“——!!!”

Reo coldly cut Tsumugi’s slurred words. She was speechless at the force of his words.

E-Eh…?

Why… Why is this happening?

Today was supposed to be the day when I would explain my situation and we can finally have a proper conversation and make each other understand.

Yesterday, Tsumugi was completely relieved and distracted by being able to keep Takuma from running away, making her fail to pay attention to her surroundings.

A few moments of carelessness led to a fate gone awry.

“Did you sleep with him?”

“I-I wasn’t intimate with him…!”

It’s true.

But the fact that he touched her did not go away. The guilt was inevitably expressed in her words.

It was impossible to clear Reo’s doubts at this rate.

“So why haven’t you contacted me recently…?”

“Ah…”

She didn’t want her boyfriend to know about her humiliation, so she hid it from him and it backfired.

A sense of distrust must have already set in.

“You were probably sleeping around with him, right?”

“No, you’re wrong. We didn’t do that! It’s not what you think…!”

Reo looked at Tsumugi as if to discern the falsity of her words.

She was afraid of those eyes. It made her knees shake.

“Even if that were true, you’ve changed, Tsumugi.”

“Eh…?”

“The Arisa Tsumugi I know would never have walked next to a man like that.”

“……”

“You didn’t look like you hated walking next to him.”

Tsumugi and Takuma, who were photographed together, were on their way home with peaceful faces.

“Tsumugi, you were manipulated by him.”

“N-Nii-san had a change of heart. He said he wouldn’t do anything to me. That’s why—”

“How can you believe that?”

“I-I believe him…!”

“It’s not a matter whether you believe or don’t believe him. I’m saying it’s impossible. I was going crazy just seeing Tsumugi walking next to that guy… Step siblings? And you two live there together? Hah, you’ve got to be kidding me…”

Reo scratched his head in frustration and let out a loud sigh of resignation as he turned his back on Tsumugi.

“I can’t go out with you anymore.”

“Reo-kun, wait…!”

“If you want to continue our relationship, get rid of him now… Don’t talk to him again, don’t go near him.”

“T-That’s…”

I can’t.

“…See you around. Don’t contact me anymore, Arisa.”

“R-Reo kun——!!!”

Despite her desperate calls, Reo left the back of the school building.

“W-Why… Why is this happening…”

Tsumugi lost her strength and collapsed on the spot. Tears streamed down her face and soaked the ground.

“Listen to me properly… Reo-kun…”

A small voice squeezed out from the back of her throat.

But words could no longer reach Reo.

“Why don’t you trust me…?”

He was her lover.

She believed that Reo would accept Takuma too.

Yes, Tsumugi really believed that—

“……”

—But she was betrayed.

“…Enough. I don’t need Reo-kun anymore.”

What was the center of her heart… Her feelings for her boyfriend, Tsumugi threw them away.

Tsumugi’s love was over.

And a gaping hole filled her heart.

Someone close will fill that hole.

“Goodbye, Reo-kun.”

Tsumugi believes in her brother Takuma.

She has to believe. In order not to lose her brother anymore…

☆

After school, I quietly slipped out of the classroom before Yuuto and Minasee caught me.

I’m done for the day.

I even tried to have a dialogue with the head of the public morals committee, which was a good effort for my first day.

I quickly went to the shoe rack and changed my shoes…

“Nii-san♪”

“T-Tsumugi…!?”

For some reason, Tsumugi was waiting for me at the school gate.

She smiled and waved her hand in a small gesture.

“W-Why are you here!? I thought we wouldn’t get close to each other at school!?”

I just told her that this morning, and I remember Tsumugi agreeing with me.

“It’s fine.”

“Eh?”

“Eii~”

“——Huh!?”

Suddenly, Tsumugi hugged my arm.

Her sweet aroma softly tickled my nostrils. Her body was soft and feminine. Her breasts were more than ample, and I could feel them pressed against my arms.

“Wait a minute! What are you doing!?”

“Hugging Nii-san.”

“I know that much!”

“I am holding on to Nii-san.”

“Hmm..!?”

Seriously, what’s going on!?

Tsumugi swayed her flaxen hair and raised her eyes sweetly.

“I don’t care about anyone. I don’t want to hide my relationship with Nii-san, after all.”

“Tsumugi…”

“Why don’t we go home together? It would be good for me and Nii-san to get along with each other because it would help to dispel Nii-san’s bad image.”

The most beautiful girl in the school shouldn’t get involved with the famous playboy.

That would lead to disruption of the whole school, and who knows what kind of ridicule would be thrown around.

Yes, the fact that Tsumugi accepts me may have a positive effect in the long run, but it should only be put into practice once the visible risks have been eliminated.

“Tsumugi, did you explain everything to your boyfriend?”

If I were Tsumugi’s boyfriend, I would have swooned in a situation like this.

“Yes, I did. Well, to be precise, I tried to.”

Tsumugi calmly continued to speak.

“But he didn’t listen.”

“Huh?”

“So we broke up.”

“!?”

For a moment, I didn’t understand what Tsumugi was talking about.

“B-Broke up…? You broke up with your boyfriend?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Even though she escaped from Takuma’s hands, why did this happen…?

No way…! Is it because of my actions!?

“There’s nothing for you to worry about, Nii-san.”

Tsumugi smiled with eyes that are somewhat unreadable, devoid of emotions.

“I value Nii-san more than my lover♡”

After that, Tsumugi never talked to me about her breakup with her boyfriend. She was so calm as if she really had no regrets.

And for some reason, I felt like the physical distance between us was shrinking…

“H-Hey, look at that… What’s going on… That’s Arisa Tsumugi, right…!?  Why is she with that scumbag…!?”

“What the hell is this? Is this a dream? A nightmare? It can’t be, there’s no way this is happening, impossible, impossible, impossible…”

“The innocent Arisa-san is hugging him like that…”

“This can’t be real…”

I heard such conversations from the students who were staring at us from a distance.

From now on, it doesn’t seem like I can hide my relationship with Tsumugi.

And so, the story begins to roll towards unexpected territories.