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

Chapter 57: Yuzuna’s Worry, and the Answer

I was called out to the beach in front of the hotel and looked around for Yuzuna.

Then I spotted her. A beautiful girl who looked just like a mermaid was sitting on a nicely sized rock by the shore.

Yuzuna was wearing thin, fluttery pajamas and, for some reason, holding a ukulele.

Maybe she’d gotten bored waiting for me, but the sounds drifting through the night at this fancy resort hotel were creepy chords that didn’t fit the mood at all.

“S-sorry to keep you waiting, Yuzuna!”

“Oh, sorry for dragging you out here, Big Brother.”

The moment she noticed me, Yuzuna hopped down from the rock and finally stopped playing the ukulele. Thank goodness.

“What’s up, calling me out at this hour? Can’t sleep because the place is different from usual?”

“That’s not some childish reason! What kind of kid do you take me for?”

She’s got a… unique sense for guitar, that’s for sure.

“What I want to talk about is Kyoko.”

“Huh? Kyoko?”

Kyoko’s name came out of nowhere, and I had no idea what she was getting at.

Wait, what was it again?

“Back at the pool, you heard it from Momiji, right? Us triplets are fraternal, and only Kyoko is… you know…”

Once Yuzuna said that, it finally came back to me.

That’s why Yuzuna was always so aware of Kyoko, and why Kyoko sometimes got oddly competitive with Yuzuna and Momiji. Momiji had told me everything at the pool.

Fraternal triplets… Sure enough, Yuzuna and Momiji came from the same egg, so they look and are built almost identically, but Kyoko’s face is similar yet her chest is way bigger and she’s noticeably shorter.

“Earlier, Kyoko fell asleep first, and while Momiji and I were talking about today, she told me she’d already explained it to you.”

“O-oh, yeah, that’s right…”

“It’s not like I’m weirdly fixated on Kyoko or anything. Among the triplets, she’s the youngest, so to me she’s just my little sister.”

Yuzuna stared hard at the dark horizon where the sea met the sky as she spoke.

“But… Kyoko’s smarter than a rough diamond like me, she’s shorter, and her boobs are stupidly huge. She’s got the kind of body guys go crazy for… and honestly, I’m jealous.”

“Yuzuna…”

The conversation had turned serious, but one thing felt off. When it came to chest size, Kyoko’s were ridiculously big, sure, but Yuzuna’s (and Momiji’s too) were easily in the “stupidly huge” category compared to most girls…

“That’s why, as her big sister, I can’t stand losing to her. I end up super aware of her… and yeah, sometimes I’m straight-up jealous. Do you think that makes me pathetic, Big Brother?”

“Pathetic? I don’t think that at all.”

“…Why not?”

Why not? How am I supposed to answer that…

“Look, Yuzuna. There’s no one exactly the same in this world. When people are different, jealousy is bound to happen. I flunked my high school entrance exams, my love life crashed and burned, and I shut myself in my room for a whole year because of the same thing. Everyone feels jealous sometimes. Noticing those differences is totally normal.”

“B-but I’m her big sister—”

“More importantly! You have tons of great things about you that are all your own, right? You don’t need to compare yourself to Kyoko in weird ways. Yuzuna has so many good points that are just Yuzuna.”

I leaned forward and said it with everything I had.

“Like, you always say thank you properly. You never complain about sharing a room with a former shut-in like me. You’ve got that big-sister vibe, and your guitar is… w-well, it’s good!”

“Hey, what was that pause for?”

“M-more than anything! Because you’re always watching out for Kyoko, she gets to go through her days feeling safe, don’t you think?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Yuzuna tilted her head.

“Kyoko’s clearly the type guys drool over just from her figure, right? But because a strong-willed girl like you is always close by, creepy guys don’t dare approach her. You call it being overly aware of your little sister, but really, you’re properly protecting her like a big sister should.”

When I explained it that way, Yuzuna’s eyes widened a little in surprise.

“Me… protecting Kyoko?”

“Yeah. You and Momiji both. You two are always right there guarding timid little Kyoko, aren’t you? I think that’s proof you’re great sisters. As an only child, it’s something I can’t really experience.”

“…I see.”

Yuzuna turned toward me, looking a bit relieved.

“But you’re wrong about one thing, Big Brother.”

“Eh?”

“You’re not an only child anymore. You’ve got a little sister—me. And I’m keeping an eye on you too.”

“…M-me? Wait, what do you mean?”

*Sigh*… “To put it simply, I’m protecting you. Like from dangerous people such as Haruka-san.”

“H-hey, don’t say stuff like that so casually…”

I laughed it off half as a joke, but when I thought about it, every time Haruka got too close, Yuzuna had always been nearby.

“Phew! I feel so much better now. Thanks for listening, Big Brother. Good night.”

“Y-yeah, good night.”

Yuzuna headed straight back toward the hotel.