While I Was Shutting in My Room for One Year, My Parent Remarried and Now I’m Living Together With Super Beautiful Stepsisters - Chapter 9-10

Chapter 9: Meeting the Mysterious Junior Again

“Hey, Aoto-senpai! That’s you, right?”

“Huh…?”

While heading to school, someone suddenly called out to me from behind.

When I turned around, there was an unusually petite girl… wait!?

With a super loli figure that could be mistaken for an elementary schooler and cute, straight-cut bangs.

A girl with pigtails styled into churro-like braided donut hair… that could only be…

“Y-Yamada!?”

“Ah, I knew it! It’s been a while, Aoto-senpai!”

Yes—this was my junior from middle school, Momone Yamada.

This is bad.

On the very first day of escaping my shut-in life, I run into an acquaintance like her of all people.

“Hey, Aoto-kun, who’s this girl?”

“Uh… she’s my junior from the same club in middle school.”

“I’m Momone Yamada! Nice to meet you!”

Yamada was a junior in the track and field club that Haruka and I were part of in middle school, with a baby face, petite frame, and donut hair—the perfect trifecta of loli.

“So your name is Yamada-san? Since you’re Aoto-kun’s junior, are you a first-year like us?”

“Yesస

“Yes, I’m a first-year at Hoshinomori High School!”

“Hoshinomori!? Wait, you enrolled at Hoshinomori like us?”

Come to think of it, she’s wearing a Hoshinomori uniform.

But her body is so small that it looks oversized, with sleeves naturally turning into moe sleeves.

“Why didn’t you go to a competitive public school? You were pretty good at studies, right?”

“What’s that, Aoto-senpai? Are you criticizing my choice of school?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

Yamada was always at the top of her class in tests.

So why would she choose a mid-tier private school like Hoshinomori… well, it’s not my place to judge her choices.

“More importantly, did you study abroad or something, Aoto-senpai? I noticed your name wasn’t on the second-year list at Hoshinomori, so I was curious.”

“Uh, well…”

Right, she might know I failed the public school exam and went to Hoshinomori, but she doesn’t know I became a shut-in afterward.

I can’t just make up a lie…

Ugh, I never imagined this would happen… I…

Just as my heart started to waver, Momiji stepped between me and Yamada.

Momiji…?

“The truth is, Aoto-kun had some complicated circumstances and took a year off from school. But he’s back this year in our grade, so please take care of him, Yamada-san.”

Momiji explained on my behalf.

Momiji…

Her protective stance felt almost sisterly…

“Complicated…? Is everything okay, Aoto-senpai!? Did something happen to your health!?”

Yamada’s expression changed as she frantically touched me all over.

“Don’t touch me like that! It’s creepy!”

“It’s not something wrong with your health, is it?”

“Of course not. Just don’t worry about it.”

Ever since track club days, Yamada would rush to my side to treat me even if I just tripped—she’s such a worrier.

“I understand. By the way, who are the three people walking with Aoto-senpai?”

“Oh, right.”

I need to explain my step-sisters to Yamada.

“The thing is, my dad remarried, and I got step-sisters.”

“Step… sisters!?”

“Yeah! I’m Aoto-kun’s big sister, the eldest, Momiji. This blonde is the second daughter, Yuzuna, and the pink-haired one is the youngest, Anzu. We’re triplets!”

“Triplets!? I thought you looked similar!”

Yamada was quite surprised as Momiji introduced the three sisters.

I thought I heard Momiji call herself my big sister, but I want to believe that was my imagination.

“Um, Momiji-san said she was your big sister even though she’s your step-sister.”

“Yamada, don’t mention that.”

“Why are you making such a scary face?”

“Just do as I say.”

“Okay, okay.”

Momiji can be pretty scary when she’s mad.

“Hey, Yamada, what did you think of Big Brother back in middle school?”

“Huh!? What’s with that question!?”

“Just curious, that’s all.”

Yuzuna suddenly threw a question at Yamada.

I don’t know what Yuzuna was thinking, but Yamada probably just sees me as a regular senior.

“…He’s an important senior. That’s all.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Yuzuna pulled a small notebook from her (large) chest pocket and started writing something.

“What are you writing, Yuzuna?”

“Just some songwriting inspiration. Thinking about a tsundere love song for a junior who adores her senior.”

“Wha!? What’s that supposed to mean!? I’m not like that!”

Yamada suddenly raised her voice, her face turning as red as fire.

“W-Well, I’ll be going now! See you all later!”

And with that, she dashed off at an incredible speed.

What’s with her? Is she that busy?

“Hehe, it’s nice to have such a kind junior at the same school, right, Aoto-kun?”

“No way is that nice. Being in the same grade as a former junior is honestly embarrassing.”

“Which class is Yamada-san in, I wonder?”

Oh, right, I wonder how our class assignments turned out.

—

Chapter 10: The Result of Class Assignments with the Beautiful Triplet Sisters!!

Hoshinomori Private High School, as its name suggests, is a school situated on a hill surrounded by trees.

I took the entrance exam here as a fallback, solely because it boasts top-tier academic results among private schools in the prefecture. But now that I’m here, it’s far from home, and there’s a long uphill slope leading to the school, so I can’t deny the location is less than ideal.

That’s exactly why I wanted to pass the entrance exam for the public high school just a few minutes’ walk away… but the result is, as you know, a failure.

“Haa…”

“Hey, Onii-san, are you okay?”

At the top of the steep slope in front of the school, as I make a grim face, only Anzu shows concern for me.

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Thanks, Anzu.”

Compared to Anzu, who’s kind even to a pathetic stepbrother like me, the other two are…

“Big Brother, you need to build more stamina.”

“That’s right, Aoto-kun, you can’t get worn out by something like this! Your big sister is strict about these things, okay? ♡”

These Spartan step-sisters… I was a shut-in for a whole year, so couldn’t they be a little nicer?

I grumble in my head, but since the shut-in situation is 100% my fault, I can’t really say anything.

“Anyway, we’re at the school, but what’s the deal with all the procedures? Your transfers and my reinstatement must’ve involved a lot, right?”

“From what Dad said, it seems like one of the school’s board members is an acquaintance of Aoto-kun’s dad, so everything went smoothly.”

Between putting me on leave without my consent and pulling this off so seamlessly… that’s how it happened, huh? My dad’s always quiet and grumpy, but he’s surprisingly well-connected.

“For now, we’re supposed to go to the staff room, and then our homeroom teacher will guide us.”

“Alright, let’s head to the staff room then.”

☆☆

After that, we went to the staff room, got explanations from the homeroom teacher, and made our way to our classroom… but.

“Starting today, four transfer students will join this class. Please introduce yourselves one by one.”

Our four names are written on the blackboard… wait, hold on a second.

(Why are all four of us in the same class?!)

Something’s seriously wrong here! Don’t they usually split siblings up? Or is that just a middle school thing?

Apparently, at this school, students who advanced internally are in classes 1 and 2, while those who entered externally are divided into classes 3 through 6 based on entrance exam performance. Somehow, all four of us ended up in the top-tier class 3…

No, forget performance—there’s no way a former shut-in, self-centered, romance-obsessed gamer like me belongs in a class like this.

And that’s not even the only problem…

As I stand in front of the blackboard, I glance at the person sitting in the front row of the classroom.

“Ugh… being in the same class as Aoto-senpai is, like, the worst!”

Why, of all people, am I in the same class as Yamada too?!