Chapter 16

The next day, Yuina had already left the house before I even woke up.

…Was she deliberately avoiding me?

If so, that stung more than I wanted to admit.

Up until now, Yuina had always been the one to come closer, to cling to me.

The thought that maybe she now hated me… it instantly sank my mood.

I barely touched my breakfast before heading out for school.

Times like this made being in different classes rough.

If she was avoiding me at home and school, then there’d be no chance to talk to her at all.

“Yo, Hotaka. What’s with the face? You look like death.”

Ikki blinked wide-eyed at me.

“…Some stuff happened. Ended up pissing off my stepsister.”

“Oof, rough. Then again, girls do get mad over the smallest things.”

“No, this time it’s completely my fault.”

“Well? Spill it.”

So I told him what had happened.

Of course, I left out who I’d been with and the fact that it was Madame, but otherwise, I kept it mostly true.

I glossed over the nature of my relationship with Yuina, but Ikki still made a face, looking downright annoyed.

“That’s on your sis, not you.”

“You think so?”

“Duh. I mean, who you sleep with is your business. It’s not like she’s your girlfriend. Getting mad at you over that? That’s just selfish.”

…When he put it that way, he had a point.

So why had Yuina been that angry?

Was she jealous? Wanting to be the only one I was with?

But no, in the moment I’d known I screwed up. I could’ve handled it better, explained myself better. My attitude probably didn’t help either.

“Don’t stress it too much.”

“I can’t not stress it. We’re family now. I can’t just live under the same roof in awkward silence.”

“Family makes up naturally, man. That’s how it works.”

Maybe he was right. Maybe if I just let it be, Yuina would act like nothing had happened tomorrow.

But… I didn’t want to leave it like this.

I decided: after school, during the election meeting, I’d talk to her properly and apologize.

Yuina’s POV

Why did I get so angry?

…No. I know why.

Because I thought Hotaka had been taken by some other girl.

Him not coming home last night wasn’t normal. We’d only been living together for a few days, but it was the first time and it made me uneasy.

He’d exchanged contacts with Madame-san, and I knew girls had been whispering about him lately.

Ever since he announced his candidacy, Hotaka had been catching attention. People finally recognized him as Anjou Hotaka, top student in our grade.

And he was paired up with me.

It’s only natural, really—girls are drawn to popular guys.

The way they looked at him had already changed.

So I couldn’t help thinking… maybe some girl had already tempted him.

When he came home, I threw out a line about him smelling like another girl, just to test him.

His reaction said everything. He panicked. And in that instant, I knew he’d been with someone.

I lost it. I yelled at him.

At home, of all places. Where Mom could’ve overheard.

It was stupid and reckless of me.

But I couldn’t hold my emotions back.

Even after a night’s sleep, I didn’t know how to face him, so I left the house early.

At school, I ended up confiding in Mina.

“That’s rough. So, Anjou-kun and some other girl, huh…”

“It’s not fair. I can’t even ask him to do it with me anymore just because we’re siblings.”

“Well, that can’t be helped. But hey, being siblings has its perks. You’re always close, right? That closeness can work both ways.”

Mina was right.

At least as his stepsister, I could still tease him, still stay near, still see sides of him I’d never seen when we were just friends-with-benefits.

Back then, he never opened up to me, never tried to know me.

But now… I could feel him trying, even a little.

“…Still, it hurts. What if he actually likes that girl?”

“That’s possible. But come on, if they really liked each other, would they have jumped straight into bed that fast?”

True. Hotaka might not care about that sort of restraint, but a normal girl wouldn’t be so quick to go that far.

So maybe… it was just another casual thing.

If that was the case, then maybe… I still had a chance.

“First thing you need to do is find out if Anjou-kun’s actually dating someone.”

“Yeah. I’ll talk to him directly.”

I couldn’t run forever.

I had to face him.

I sent him a message: I’ll be at the meeting after school.

Hotaka’s POV

After school, I waited in the classroom. Everyone else had already gone home or to club activities.

The sliding door opened and Yuina walked in.

She averted her gaze, but she came.

She sat down across from me and said,

“…I’m sorry about yesterday.”

I blinked. She was apologizing too?

That alone made my chest feel lighter.

“No, I’m the one who should apologize. I acted like a jerk.”

I bowed my head like she had.

She let out a small laugh and reached out, patting my head.

“You’re forgiven.”

I lifted my head. She smiled shyly, her eyes flickering away.

“…So, Hotaka. Are you seeing someone?”

Ah. So she really thought that.

“Nope. I’m not dating anyone.”

She visibly relaxed.

“Then… a sex-friend?”

“Nope.”

“…A one-night thing?”

“Not that either.”

“Then what? What was it?”

“I’ll explain. Just hear me out.”

So I told her. Not the name, but the rest: the request, the practice, the advice, the awkward lessons. It was mortifying to say aloud, but I forced myself through it.

Yuina listened quietly to the end, then exhaled… and burst out laughing.

“…You’re such a pushover.”

“I know.”

“So, you’re just gonna keep helping her practice?”

“Yeah. Might as well, now that I’ve started.”

(And sure enough, Madame had messaged me again, thanking me and asking for more practice.)

“…So you didn’t sleep with her after all.”

“Exactly.”

“Then why didn’t you just say that from the start?”

Yuina slumped against the desk, laughing.

She didn’t seem to care about me “helping” someone else.

Relief washed over me.

“I didn’t expect you to blow up like that. I mean… we were just sex-friends before.”

At that, Yuina puffed out her cheeks and shot me a glare.

“Yeah, but that’s not the point! I still want that, and now it’s killing me that I can’t. If you went off and slept with someone else, of course I’d be pissed!”

“…You really wanna do it with me that badly?”

“Mmhm. Only with you.”

Her gaze was so straight, so clear, I had to look away, my face burning.

“…I want to, too. But we’re family now. We can’t.”

She narrowed her eyes, unimpressed.

“Then… what if we just date? If we were boyfriend and girlfriend, it wouldn’t be weird, right?”

I froze.

“…Date? Wait, do you even like me like that?”

“Not exactly. But… I feel like we’d work. I mean, we worked fine as sex-friends, didn’t we?”

She blushed faintly as she looked away.

“…Maybe. But no. I don’t plan on dating anyone.”

“…I see.”

For just a moment, she looked genuinely sad.

Then she clapped her hands together and smiled brightly.

“Kidding. What, did you think I was serious?”

“That’s not a funny joke.”

“Sorry, sorry. But admit it, you thought about it, right?”

“…Maybe a little.”

She laughed, then smacked my shoulder lightly.

“Let’s just stay good siblings then.”

“Yeah.”

Honestly, I was just relieved.

We’d made up. Yesterday, I thought she’d ignore me for days. But she’d wanted to apologize too. In the end, it was mutual.

“Well then, let’s get to the election stuff.”

And just like that, the subject closed.

I shifted my mind to the campaign.

“Day after tomorrow’s the debate. You know that, right?”

“Yeah. I’m nervous about speaking in front of people.”

“You’ll be fine. You’ve got guts. You’ll handle it better than I could.”

I handed her the notes with our pledges.

“Our policies: redesigning the uniforms, holding study sessions, and pushing for free romance.”

“To counter the ban on relationships, right?”

“Exactly. The idea is: under President Yuina, school will be fun and open. We want people to imagine that.”

“Leave that image work to me.”

She winked.

And with that, we dove into preparations for the debate.