Chapter 24
Kaname’s Jealousy
When the three of us walked from the entrance into the living room, Yufumi suddenly said,
“I’m going to start cooking now, so, Onii-chan, come with me.”
“Huh? What about me…? What’s Kaname going to do?”
“She can wait in the living room. I don’t want to see you two flirting right in front of me.”
It really seemed like she viewed every girl who interacted with me as a romantic rival.
“We’re not like that, Kaname and I, so you don’t have to—”
“It’s fine. I can wait in the living room.”
Kaname cut me off before I could finish denying Yufumi’s assumption.
I thought I should probably address the way Yufumi fundamentally thinks about things before anything else, but… Kaname likely just didn’t want to get into an argument with her right now.
“Then, that’s fine, right, Onii-chan?”
…Either way, if I refused Yufumi’s suggestion here, it would only make it look like I wanted to be alone with Kaname. So I really didn’t have a choice.
“Alright. That’s fine.”
As Kaname sat down in the living room chair, I followed Yufumi into the kitchen.
While pulling ingredients out of the refrigerator, she suddenly spoke up.
“Onii-chan, you know, I’m actually really mad right now. Honestly, I’m so mad that I could push you down right here and now.”
“…Lying to you was wrong. I’m sorry.”
I bowed my head to her as I said it. Yufumi frowned.
“I’m not happy just because you apologize or bow your head, you know? What makes me happy is when you touch me… when you want me as a woman. So if you really mean that apology… you understand, right?”
“…I get it.”
I lifted my head and stepped closer to her.
Her expression—dark and sulky a moment ago—turned crimson as I did so.
Then, I gently reached out and patted her head.
“Wh—?! H-Hey, Onii-chan! That’s not what I meant! That’s you treating me like your little sister again, not like a woman!”
“You said you wanted me to touch you, didn’t you?”
“That’s not what I meant! Touching means, like… more like—!”
By now, I had managed to turn things back onto my pace as her older brother.
I kept patting her head, ignoring her protests, until she finally calmed down.
When I eventually withdrew my hand—
“O-Onii-chan… you patted my head so many times…”
She smiled bashfully, her lips curling up in happiness.
Her earlier anger was gone, and she hummed cheerfully as she started cooking again.
Even if it was only temporary, I’d dealt with enough of Yufumi’s moods over the years to handle her as an older brother should.
But the side of her that didn’t want to be my “little sister”—that, I still hadn’t figured out.
I’d need to keep an eye on that.
◇ Kaname’s Side ◇
From the living room chair, Kaname watched as Ichihito gently patted Yufumi’s head in the kitchen.
“From the outside, they look just like a really close couple… No, well, maybe it’s normal for siblings to pat each other’s heads like that… but still, he’s never done that to me.”
Ichihito claimed he only wanted to be Yufumi’s brother, yet there he was, patting her head and acting all affectionate.
He’d never done anything like that with her, his friend.
Kaname understood that being a sister made Yufumi naturally closer to him than a mere friend would be… but the thought still bothered her.
“…I’m jealous again.”
If she could, she wanted him to pat her head too—hold her hand, hug her… and even go further than that.
But as things were now, she couldn’t have any of it.
“If Yufumi-chan can get that close to Ichihito because she’s his sister… then I’ll just have to use my position as his friend to get closer to him too.”
As she watched him stroke Yufumi’s hair, Kaname’s jealousy burned quietly—but more fiercely than ever before, she made up her mind.
