Chapter 16
My Stepsister Hugs Me
While still holding Yui’s hand, as she had wished, we were heading to the aquarium.
────But along the way, things got a little strange: Yui, who had been holding my hand normally, kept trying to switch to a lover’s hold. As a result, we were repeatedly holding hands, letting go, holding hands again, and letting go. It was becoming an endless loop.
“Yui, why don’t you just give up already?”
“You’re the one who should give up! Do you really hate holding hands with me like a couple that much, Onii-chan!?”
“My behavior up to now should’ve made that much obvious!”
“If we’re brother and sister, then the way we hold hands shouldn’t matter, right!?”
“If it doesn’t matter, then isn’t this way just fine?”
“Ugh! I hate you, Onii-chan!”
She turned her face away from me────but then, in a voice small yet still audible, she whispered,
“…Lies. I love you.”
“…Haah.”
As usual, she was cute in moments like this, which only made things harder for me.
I used my free hand to pat her head.
“O-Onii-chan! You’re totally patting me on the head as a sister, aren’t you!? I hate that!”
“If that’s what you think, then just brush my hand away.”
“There’s no way I could brush away Onii-chan’s hand when you’re patting me!”
“Is that really something to declare so strongly?”
While exchanging words like that, before we knew it, we’d arrived at the front of the aquarium. I stopped patting her head and walked inside with her. …I did stop the head-patting, but since Yui was gripping my hand tightly, we continued holding hands as we entered the aquarium.
“Wow~! So pretty~!”
Yui’s eyes sparkled as she watched schools of fish swimming together inside tanks that seemed to glow in the dim light. She looked genuinely delighted.
After that, we walked around looking at various fish, chatting lightly while passing through an underwater tunnel.
“Aquariums are nice, aren’t they? They’re dark, but there are these beautiful blue and turquoise tanks here and there… it’s quiet, and kind of romantic.”
“Yeah. I never really thought they were all that fun before, but looking at it that way, I can see why this would be a wonderful place.”
“Mm…”
Once we exited the underwater tunnel, we came to a place that was much darker by contrast.
I see… there was just a tank around the corner, and here the only light came from faint spotlights. It was about as dark as a movie theater during a showing.
While I was analyzing that to myself, Yui stopped walking, so I stopped too.
“Yui? Something wrong?”
“…Onii-chan, no one can see us here, right? That means we can do whatever we want, right?”
“…Huh? What do you mean, whatever────”
Before I could finish, Yui let go of my hand────only to wrap her arms around me and hug me.
“Y-Yui!?”
“I’m hugging you, Onii-chan… It’s something I could do at home too, but at home it feels too much like ‘siblings.’ But outside… when I hug you here, it makes me feel like Onii-chan is mine alone no matter where we are. Besides, hugging you feels really, really good…”
If she hugged me at home, I could brush it off as just sibling stuff. But outside like this, there was no way I could pretend it was the same────which meant I had to stop her.
“Yui, we shouldn’t be doing this────”
I was about to tell her to stop hugging me, but just then someone bumped lightly into me from behind.
Noticing it, Yui immediately let go. A woman’s voice apologized from behind us.
“…Sorry, I couldn’t see in the dark.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it… We’re the ones who shouldn’t have been standing still. Sorry.”
With that brief exchange, the woman walked on ahead.
…It was too dark to see her face clearly, but her voice felt oddly familiar somehow. Though since people usually lower their voices in aquariums, I couldn’t be sure. Either way…
“Yui, this is why standing still like that only causes trouble for other people. Let’s not do this kind of thing outside.”
“…Okay, maybe outside wasn’t the best idea. I didn’t like someone bumping into you either. Next time, I’ll do it outdoors instead.”
“That’s even worse, so please don’t.”
After that, Yui and I held hands again and enjoyed the rest of the aquarium before heading home.
…When we got back, Yui tried to hug me again, but even at home, after what had happened, it didn’t feel like just a sibling gesture anymore. Somehow, I managed to dodge her attempts until the day ended.
I thought the matter was settled────but come Monday, when I arrived at school, I found Kanami sitting at the desk in front of mine, clearly in a foul mood.
