While I Was Shutting in My Room for One Year, My Parent Remarried and Now I’m Living Together With Super Beautiful Stepsisters - Chapter 58-59

Chapter 58: Haruka’s Super Intense Love ♡♡

Day two at the resort hotel.

Out of the three days and two nights, the first day was mostly group activities because we’d planned stuff to do together, but today and tomorrow have no set schedule, so we’re free to do whatever we want.

Even though it’s a resort hotel in a tourist area, there are so many things to do inside the hotel itself that you never have to leave the grounds.

Sure enough, Momiji went off for another massage, Yuzuna headed to the pool with Nanoka-san, and Kyoko stayed in the room playing games—everyone doing exactly what they felt like.

I thought about playing games with Kyoko too, but somehow it felt like a waste.

“What should I do… sigh.”

While I was lost in those thoughts, I ended up eating breakfast alone at the hotel’s morning buffet, taking my time.

I don’t really have anything in particular I want to do.

This is my first time staying at a fancy hotel like this, so I’m not really used to it.

I could walk around the tourist spots nearby, or maybe just go back to the pool?

“Aoto-senpai, you still look half-asleep as usual, huh?”

But if I go to the pool, Yuzuna and Nanoka-san are there, and I’ll probably get dragged into something annoying again.

“Hey! Aoto-senpai, are you listening?”

No matter where I go, trouble finds me anyway.

“A! O! TO! SENPAI!”

“…Oh. It’s you, Yamada.”

“It’s not ‘oh’! The great me is sitting right in front of you trying to talk, so don’t ignore me!”

“I wasn’t ignoring you.”

“You totally were! Big time!”

Yamada showed up in super frilly little-kid-style casual clothes, her donut-shaped hair buns swaying as she complained nonstop.

“Well, whatever. You did help me out yesterday, so I’ll let the complaining stop here.”

“Huh? Uh, sure, whatever.”

Yamada plopped down in the seat across from me and started eating her breakfast.

On her tray: a croissant, a donut, white rice with spicy cod roe, shortcake, and vanilla ice cream—an unbalanced little-girl morning feast made of nothing but her favorites.

“Hm? By the way, where’s Haruka?”

“Haruka-senpai said she had something to do and left around five in the morning.”

“What kind of errand is there at five a.m.?”

“No idea. Something about sleeping faces? Haven’t you seen her?”

“Nope. But yeah, Haruka finally made it to an amazing hotel like this, so she probably wants to cut loose a little.”

“You’re right. Haruka-senpai always works so hard.”

Lately Haruka has been kind of wild sometimes, but even back in the day she was a huge hard worker. In track and in studies, she’d start out average and then grind until she was number one.

Everyone looked up to her for that, and I was one of them.

“I don’t really know what Haruka’s been up to since high school, but she’s still putting in the effort, right? While I was shut in my room, Haruka was always—”

“But she’s not in the track club anymore, apparently.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Yeah. I only got to talk to her again on this trip because she asked me for a favor, so I don’t know the details, but I heard a bit on the way here. Looks like she started playing the violin.”

Violin… oh, that explains it.

That day I took Yuzuna’s guitar to the music shop, Haruka was there for that reason.

“Haruka actually played violin when we were little. After we’d hang out as kids, I used to walk her to her violin lessons.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. But I wonder why she started again… She worked so hard at track.”

“It’s probably got something to do with you, Aoto-senpai.”

“W-what do you mean, something to do with me?”

“You’ll… figure it out yourself.”

Yamada puffed out her cheeks unhappily and shoved an entire donut into her mouth in one bite.

Seriously, what the heck does she mean by “something to do with me”?!

—

Chapter 59: Haruka’s Super Serious Talk ♡

After finishing breakfast with Yamada, I got back to the room and suddenly noticed I had a missed call on my phone.

Who’s calling this early… huh?

“H-Haruka?”

It was from Haruka.

We’d just been talking about her over breakfast with Yamada. Speak of the devil, literally.

There was a voicemail, so I played it right away.

“Aoto? Morning. I was thinking of taking a walk along the beach and feeling the sea breeze. Would you like to come? There’s a lot I want to talk about. I’ll wait in front of the hotel, okay?”

That was all, and then the message ended.

An invitation from Haruka to go for a walk…

The old me would have sprinted there like a dog that hears its owner’s car pulling in, tail wagging like crazy. But not anymore.

“Well, I’ve got nothing else to do, and turning down Haruka feels… kinda wrong.”

I shot her a quick chat saying “On my way” and left the room.

Still, what does she want to talk about?

I wondered about it the whole elevator ride down.

It could be about yesterday’s mess, but I still have no idea why Haruka did what she did, or what’s going on inside her head at all.

The elevator reached the first floor. I stepped into the lobby and looked around for Haruka.

There she was, sitting on a sofa near the entrance.

“H-hey, Haruka.”

I called out awkwardly as I walked over.

Haruka was wearing a cute blue dress with frills, fiddling with her beautiful black hair while scrolling on her phone.

“Honestly… Aoto, you’re such a sleepyhead.”

“There wasn’t any schedule today, so I was just taking it slow.”

“Really? Then I’m glad I invited you.”

She gave a small smile, stood up, and said,

“I suddenly felt like getting some fresh air. And… there’s something I want to make clear with you.”

“Make clear?”

“…I want to talk properly about what happens from now on. Let’s walk and talk?”

“W-wait a—”

Before I could finish, Haruka grabbed my hand and pulled me outside.

What the heck is this conversation going to be about!?

It was the middle day of Golden Week, under a perfectly clear sky.

All I could think about was whether this was the start of a rom-com… or a suspense thriller.