Chapter 22
My Stepsister Meets Kaname
During the break after third period, Kaname and I waited in the hallway outside our classroom for Yuimi.
We hadn’t been waiting even thirty seconds when Yuimi’s cheerful voice rang out as she came running up to us.
“Big brother! You were waiting for me out here in the hallway!?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“I’m so happy~!”
Yuimi walked up to us with a bright smile.
But the moment she got close enough to notice Kaname standing beside me—until then, her eyes had only been focused on me—her expression clouded over.
“…Who’s that girl?”
At this point, there was something I had to do, no matter the reason behind it:
I had to admit that I’d lied to Yuimi.
“Yuimi, I’m sorry… When I told you before that I wasn’t involved with any girls, that was a lie.”
“…What?”
Yuimi looked shocked, and before I could say more, Kaname spoke up.
“Nice to meet you, Yuimi-chan. I’m Kaori Kaname, Ichito’s friend. It’s nice to meet you.”
“My brother… has a girl friend…?”
Yuimi stared at Kaname in silence for a moment, then looked at me with darkened eyes.
“Since when have you two been close?”
There was no reason left to lie, so I answered honestly.
“…Since the second semester of my first year of high school.”
“You hid it because… you had a guilty conscience?”
“N–No! It’s not like that at all! There’s nothing shady going on. I just didn’t want to upset you, Yuimi.”
“…Upset me?”
“You said before that if I ever got involved with a girl, you’d start coming at me even harder, right? I’ve told you before—I really want to avoid that kind of situation. So I lied.”
Once I explained everything truthfully, Yuimi turned to Kaname and spoke in a low voice.
“…Kaname-san, do you have any romantic feelings for my brother?”
“Y–Yuimi! Kaname would never—”
I started to cut in, but Yuimi silenced me with a dark glare.
“Big brother, stay quiet. I’m talking to Kaname-san right now. And by the way, I’m still mad that you hid something this important from me.”
I wanted to protest, but the fact was, I had lied.
And more importantly, when it came to this question, I figured it was best not to interfere.
Yuimi fixed her eyes on Kaname again.
Kaname met her gaze and replied plainly,
“I don’t have those kinds of feelings. You don’t have to worry—we’ve never done anything inappropriate.”
As soon as Kaname said that, Yuimi hugged me tightly without looking away from her.
I almost yelped in surprise, but the atmosphere wasn’t right for that, so I kept quiet.
Then Yuimi said coldly to Kaname,
“My brother is my brother. So please, don’t do anything to him.”
“…Yeah. I won’t do anything.”
Kaname answered seriously, and Yuimi finally released me from her arms.
“We can’t talk about this in detail here at school, especially not in the hallway. So when we get home, I’ll be asking you a lot of questions, big brother. Don’t go hanging out with any friends after school—just come straight home, okay?”
“Ah… alright.”
Yuimi gave me a sharp look before walking away down the hall.
That left Kaname and me alone to talk about what to do next.
“…There’s no doubt she’s going to grill me hard when I get home tonight.”
“Yeah. Now that I’ve talked to her, I can see she’s the type who gets… intense about love. Kind of scary, honestly. She was so cheerful at first, but when it comes to you and relationships, it’s like she changes completely.”
“Exactly. She’s usually bright and kind, but whenever the topic turns to this sort of thing, she suddenly becomes like that. And this time, she found out I’ve been involved with a girl… so she’s probably angrier than ever. I’ve got to think carefully about what to do when I get home.”
Just as I started to think it through, Kaname said calmly,
“About that—Ichito, would it be alright if I stayed over at your place tonight?”
