While I Was Shutting in My Room for One Year, My Parent Remarried and Now I’m Living Together With Super Beautiful Stepsisters - Chapter 22-23

Chapter 22: Haruka’s True Nature

“Eh, Aoto…?”

“Ha, Haruka…?”

At the music shop, the person who appeared before us was none other than my childhood friend, Haruka Mizuno.

I missed our middle school graduation ceremony, so this was the first time I’d seen Haruka since that humiliating failure of mine.

Her long, glossy straight black hair and her slightly more mature appearance compared to a year ago gave her a refined presence. She wore the county high school uniform, holding a school bag in one hand and a violin case in the other.

“Big Brother, could this be… the person you mentioned before?”

I nodded silently.

I’d already explained things to Yuzuna, so that gesture alone should’ve been enough for her to understand this was Haruka.

To think we’d reunite in a place like this… I never could’ve imagined it.

I didn’t feel any joy—only an overwhelming awkwardness consumed me.

Haruka seemed to share a similar feeling. Her lips pressed tightly together as she stared at me intently.

“It’s been a year, hasn’t it, Aoto?”

“Y-yeah.”

“…”

“…”

Despite this being our first reunion in a year, we stood facing each other, unable to find the next words.

It’s only natural, I suppose… I’d been avoiding Haruka ever since I failed the entrance exam.

“…Haruka, I…”

Back then, I could’ve easily said “sorry,” but now the word stuck in my throat like a fishbone.

Was I apologizing for running away? For avoiding her? Or was it that Haruka didn’t even care about someone like me, who failed the high school entrance exam, anymore…?

(Ugh, no, no! How long am I going to keep moping like this?!)

I mean, Haruka’s such a beautiful, refined girl with her black hair. She probably already has a boyfriend at her high school. There’s no way she’s still thinking about me…

“Um, Aoto. Can I say something too?”

“Y-yeah.”

As I fumbled for words, Haruka spoke up first.

“I’ve been really worried about you… all this time, Aoto.”

“Huh?”

Hearing that Haruka had been worried about me made me a little happy. No, no, holding onto those lingering feelings is exactly why I’ve been depressed for a whole year! Don’t get your hopes up, me!

“Going to a different high school from you, living a school life without you for the first time… it made me realize how boring every day felt.”

“Huh…? Oh, uh, yeah.”

Was this just flattery? Maybe she was saying it to lighten the mood…

“I thought about sending you a message on lime so many times, but after hearing from the housekeeper that you’d been shutting yourself in since starting high school, I was afraid I’d bother you and make you hate me… so I couldn’t do it.”

Haruka spoke with an apologetic tone.

I see… So that’s why the lime messages from Haruka stopped coming. I thought it was simply because we went to different high schools and she was keeping her distance, but it turns out she’d heard about my situation from Mitayama-san.

“But, you know? Instead of contacting you directly, I’d sometimes visit your house after school and borrow the kitchen to make meals for you. ♡ You noticed, right?”

“Wha—what!? You made meals!? That was you!? I had no idea—”

“What? You didn’t know?”

Haruka’s eyes glared at me sharply. They weren’t the gentle eyes I knew; they were the piercing gaze of someone who’d spotted a traitor.

S-something’s off here…

“You’re joking, right, Aoto? I’ve been coming over like a devoted wife since middle school, making dinner for you over and over and over again. So you must’ve known that some of the meals you ate this past year were made by me, right? Right? You haven’t forgotten about me, have you?”

“Uh, w-well, I…”

Haruka’s deep, dark eyes locked onto mine, unblinking.

Whoa, whoa, something’s been off for a while now, and the air’s getting heavy…!

“This is getting kinda bad, Big Brother. Your childhood friend’s acting weird,” Yuzuna whispered worriedly from beside me.

“No, the Haruka I know was way more normal than this,” I whispered back.

“But she’s totally acting like a yandere from a manga. This is bad, right? Should we run?”

“As if we could do that!” I hissed.

“By the way, Aoto… who’s that big-breasted girl you’ve been talking to?”

“Huh?”

Haruka slowly shifted her gaze toward Yuzuna, her tone soft but probing.

“I’m Big Brother’s stepsister,” Yuzuna answered.

“Stepsister…? Aoto’s…?”

Her gaze grew even sharper.

Th-this is getting seriously bad…

—

Chapter 23: Haruka’s Feelings Are Heavy

I reunited with Haruka, my childhood friend with her neat black hair, but after not seeing her for a year, she was no longer the Haruka I knew.

It’s hard to explain, but she seemed unusually subdued or something.

The Haruka I remembered was more carefree and cheerful, the type who could handle anything with ease…

“Hey, Aoto, what’s this about a sister?”

Haruka shot a sharp, piercing glance at Yuzuna, who was standing next to me.

Haruka had been acting strange and overly guarded since earlier. Maybe it’d be best to explain everything from the start, right?

“Uh, well, my dad got remarried recently, and my stepmother brought her three triplet daughters into the family. So, this girl is my stepsister, the middle one—”

“Liar!!”

Haruka shouted, cutting me off.

It was a denial so intense it felt like cicadas might start chirping.

“No, I know it sounds unbelievable, but it’s true!”

“You’re trying to dodge me with such a quick lie? That’s awful, Aoto! While I was gone, you went and got yourself a girlfriend with big boobs, didn’t you? Even though I’ve got big boobs too, I wasn’t enough for you, was I? That’s it, right, Aoto!?”

“Huh? Big Brother, have you actually hooked up with this girl?”

“What the hell are you talking about!? I haven’t done anything!”

Haruka wasn’t listening to me at all and was spouting nonsense… This was getting out of hand.

“Mom, those people are having a total drama fest! Can we watch?”

“Oh, come on, if you keep watching this drama, you’ll miss your evening anime! Save the drama for another time, okay?”

“Okay!”

Even a mother and child passing by, probably on their way back from piano lessons, stopped to gawk… This was bad.

“Haruka-san, what Big Brother’s saying is legit. I’m his stepsister, Yuzuna.”

“…Okay, Yuzuna-san. Do you have any proof? Proof that you’re not Aoto’s girlfriend?”

Shouldn’t it be proof that she’s my sister!?

“Here, take a look at the photos on my phone. You won’t find a single picture of Big Brother.”

Yuzuna handed her phone to Haruka, who took it with a skeptical look and started scrolling.

As Haruka went through the photos, her expression gradually softened back to normal.

“…Wait, there really aren’t any photos of Aoto, and there are pictures of three girls who look alike… So, what Aoto said earlier was true…?”

Muttering this, Haruka returned the phone to Yuzuna and looked at me with a guilty expression.

I said, “Told you so,” and Haruka’s face paled even more.

“To doubt what you said, Aoto… I’m the worst, aren’t I? Really, the worst! I’m sorry, Aoto! I’ve become such a horrible person, I’ll never show my face in front of you again, and you can block me on Lime if you want!”

Haruka’s eyes were brimming with tears as she spoke.

Blocking her? Her emotions were way too extreme… Like, emotionally unstable or something. What on earth had gotten into her?

“D-Don’t say that, Haruka. I… I was relieved to talk to you again after so long. I thought you hated me ever since back then… So, even though we’re at different high schools, come hang out like we used to.”

“Aoto… Yeah, thank you.”

Haruka’s eyes welled up as she replied.

“Then, starting today, I’ll message you on Lime every day like before! ♡ See you, Aoto!”

As Haruka left, the heavy atmosphere gradually lifted, and it finally felt like I was back under Earth’s gravity.