Chapter 7: Chapter 5
11th of June (Thursday)
Morning. Counting in Akiko-san, all four of our family were sitting around the kitchen table. Since Akiko-san ca ho late yesterday, or rather this morning, she should still be sleeping at this point in ti.
"Sumr solstice is around the corner, isn't it~" She said, with a yawn.
She apparently woke up because of the sunlight being too bright. This being the case, I think it might be a good idea to install shading curtains in their bedroom. Since my old man probably never thought about it, I'll tell him later.
"I'll go get so more sleep later," Akiko-san said, and yet kept standing in the kitchen.
At the sa ti, since my father didn't have to leave for work early, he could leisurely read the newspaper on his tablet. Hence, we'd be eating breakfast as the four of us.
"Here, Dad, take care of that."
"Gotcha."
I gave him a tablecloth to wipe the table. With a grin, he wiped his own part of the table, as well as Akiko-san's. After everything was sparkling clean, Akiko-san and Ayase-san started lining up today's breakfast. Possibly because it was both of them cooking, we had a greater variety today. Lastly, they seed to be preparing rolled olette, atop a frying pan made for rolled eggs (brought by Akiko-san, as we didn't have this before in our house), as they rolled around the long eggs using long chopsticks. It looked like a master's work, as I didn't even see eggs inside the finished olette. Even while sampling the miso soup, Ayase-san stared at Akiko-san's handicraft.
After we all clapped our hands together, thanking each other for the food, we dug in. Of course, we all reached for Akiko-san's rolled olette first. The second I bit into the piece from my chopsticks, the juicy taste of sauce filled my mouth. This is different from the taste I expected…What is it?
"Delicious. But…wait, it's not…rolled olette?"
"It's special Japanese-style."
Even though Akiko-san was the one who made them, Ayase-san gave a response.
"Japanese-style rolled olette?"
"Rolled olette normally tastes like egg, right? If you want salt, then you just add that, and those who like it sweet can put so sugar in the mix."
"Sugar?"
"Do you not like sweet food? If so, then I'll leave it out next ti."
"Ah, no…I'm fine with whatever. It's just, you can even make sweet rolled olette, huh."
"Eh…"
"Hm?"
Even if you look at like I was so alien, I can't give you a different answer…
"…You are attending cooking class, right?"
"Y-Yeah. But, we never made rolled olette. It was always only fried eggs."
"Hmmm. But yeah, Japanese-style rolled olette you make by adding soup stock1 inside."
"Soup stock…So like a noodle soup base?"
"We're doing it with white soy sauce, mirin2, and sugar most of the ti."
She looked over towards the kitchen, at a specific white bowl. I see, since we only use salt, soy sauce, and sugar here, she, or rather, Akiko-san probably brought this with her.
"That's why it tastes more like the soup stock rather than egg. Of course, sotis it's a bit more salty. If you want it more sweet, you use mirin. You can also use soy sauce, but then the rolled olettes don't keep their yellow color.
"You sure know a lot."
"Saki-chan can make it as well. Maybe you can make so for Yuuta-kun since he liked the taste?"
"I can't make it that well…"
"I personally like fried eggs."
"…I see. I'll make so if I feel like it."
Basically, this is what was going on behind Ayase-san's and my conversation. 'You don't need to do more work outside the contract. I don't mind at all', is what I said, to which Ayase-san responded with 'Thanks, I'll make so if I have the ti'. As a result of that, both our own desires and opinions got through perfectly. Much better than using so secret coded language, as that offered easier misconceptions.
Not realizing this at all however, my old man just kept praising Akiko-san's food until the end of ti. Calling it 'most delicious in the entire world' is taking it a bit too far if you ask . Are you just trying to flirt? With everybody else around? Can you not? You're totally ruining my motivation for the day.
I was searching for another topic in order to change the conversation, when I rembered sothing.
"Oh right, it's my turn this week for laundry, but can I just take Akiko-san's and Ayase-san's clothes for it?"
"Ah, that's…" Ayase-san started her words, but eventually gulped them down again.
I tilted my head, confused. It's rare for Ayase-san to fumble over her own words like that. Did I say sothing bad by any chance?
"Well, if you're okay with it, then I'd like to take care of the laundry all-together, Yuuta-kun." Akiko-san threw in.
"Eh? I can't do that."
After we've decided to live together as four, we split up the housework. A lot of things changed there already, but I can't just give her more responsibility…
"But, doing it for four people must be tough, right?" Akiko-san pressed even further.
With how desperate she seed, even I started to pick up on sothing. Now that I think about it, having a man take care of a woman's clothes to the point of washing them, isn't that pretty insensitive? But, because I was so busy with trying not to burden her anymore, I completely disregarded that. That was bad. Before I could take back my idea, Ayase-san was forced to explain it to .
"Leaving even my underwear to Asamura-kun is a bit…well…A-And also, they need so special treatnt compared to normal clothes. Do you know which to put in what laundry net?"
"Which in…what?" I added, but gave her an eye contact to apologize for making her say that.
"If you wash the bras just like that, they'll change in shape, and the hook can get caught in the other clothes, right? That's why there's a special washing net for bras. When you have cute pa—inner underwear, the smaller decorations on it can get caught up with other clothes as well…"
Even in the midst of this awkward atmosphere, Ayase-san carefully explained the problem. Thanks to that, I understood how complicated washing a woman's clothes really was.
"Also, don't you split clothes which are more strong and weak in color? You do put clothes with three-dinsional objects on them into a different net, right? Otherwise they'd get peeled off."
"Three-dinsional objects, you an like drawings or logos stuck to the fabric?"
"Yup, that."
"Ahh, that's why they peeled off after every washing round."
Hearing my words, Ayase-san held her head. She however quickly raised it again, and announced.
"With this level of knowledge, I cannot leave my clothes to you, Asamura-kun, so I will wash them myself."
"Ah, yeah…Understood."
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Akiko-san spoke up with a gentle smile.
"I take care of Taichi-san's clothes anyway, so why don't I wash yours together, Yuuta-kun?"
Listening to these words, I imagined the scenery of her going through my laundry basket. Akiko-san will…wash my underwear? …No way in hell.
"…I really understand how awkward you must have felt, Ayase-san."
"Right?" She let out a sigh.
Yeah, I see how it is. Sorry about that.
When I opened the front door, I was imdiately greeted with the roaring hamring of the rain hitting the windows and railing. We'll be going together, is what Ayase-san said, and left the house with , leaving confused as to what happened. So far, she always insisted on leaving first. I an, since she's my step-sister, my little sister in this context, walking together to school isn't anything weird…Or is it? I feel like it'd be weird for siblings to be on their way to and from high school. Or am I just thinking too deeply into it?
"There's sothing I wanted to talk about." Inside the elevator, on our way down, Ayase-san suddenly said that.
I see. That made sense. Of course, I had no idea as to what, but it was very much like Ayase-san to be direct.
"I wanted to apologize."
"…Apologize?"
For what? I thought about our exchanges this morning. Did she do sothing worth apologizing for? I should be the one, after how insensitive I was…
But, Ayase-san stayed quiet even after we stepped out of the mansion. We walked along the almost empty street, our umbrellas lining up to protect us from the rain. It was the perfect ti for us to talk about sothing more private, at least until we made it near the school.
The line of buildings was emphasized through the rain falling on it, as the both of us had to be careful of the passing cars, so that they didn't drench us because of the rain puddles at the side of the street. After stopping once because of that, Ayase-san slowly started walking again, as her face tightened up a bit.
"Anything discriminative, even subconsciously, is sothing I can't stand. That's why, I'm sorry." She said with a serious expression.
My face shot sideways, and I could tell that she was seeing this as an important conversation. She took a deep breath, and let it out.
"It's not impossible that you might be wearing lingerie from an expensive brand on you after all."
It is pretty much impossible though.
"Even though I always try to not fall into typical gender roles…"
"Wait, Ayase-san."
"Asamura-kun, I can see how you're taking care of your body. Even yesterday, you put your drenched clothes into the washing machine right away. I haven't seen you put in lip gloss or foundation, but you seem like the type who'd be very conscious about that."
"Calm down, Ayase-san." I walked in front of her.
In order to stop her rampaging thoughts, I needed to halt her movent, so that she could focus only on . Through that, Ayase-san stopped, and looked up at from beneath the umbrella.
"…Okay, I've cald down."
"Ah, sure."
"Even if you prefer female clothing doesn't an you're wearing it in reality after all."
No good, she's not calm at all.
"Just take a deep breath, and think about it. You saw the washing room of my ho, right?"
"Hmmm…" Ayase-san dove into her thoughts. "Um…right, well, I saw shaving cream and razor. I didn't find any costics for won…I think."
"Right?"
"But, your eyebrows have such a great shape."
"Huh?"
"You must be taking care of them in so way. I didn't see a comb, but you might be visiting a beauty salon instead—"
"A barber, yes."
Do you really think a boy like could just waltz into a beauty salon? Even if we're living in the town of the young – Shibuya – that doesn't an that everybody is obsessed with costics and brands. I save my money for books instead.
"Eh? Then, are your eyebrows natural?"
"That's it, yep."
Ayase-san stared at .
"I can't believe it…I'm so jealous…"
"I-Is it really that big of a detail?"
"…How vexing…" With these words, Ayase-san started walking again.
I stayed silent, and walked after her.
"Listen." I spoke up.
"What?"
"About what you just talked about. You know, gender roles and that stuff."
"Yeah."
"Gender roles are that, right? Acting out a role depending on the gender."
Putting it simply, it's that n act like n, and won act like won. That's what gender roles refer to. What action is 'like' this or that gender is sadly decided by shared hallucinations and imaginations called the public, and we as small individuals cannot influence that logic.
"Correct. But, there's no set limit that there can be only two genders, don't you agree?"
"Well, yeah."
Of course I would know about that. As long as you read books, you learn about all sorts of things, even if you want to or not. And, it often ends up in the news lately. I think with facebook, you can show up to 58 custom genders now. Beca a recent topic after all.
On top of that, you can't just simply label as man or woman just going with DNA. Apparently, Ayase-san was thinking the sa thing as .
"The differentiation of humanity happens with the use of chromosos, right…"
"The X chromoso and the Y chromoso."
"Yup. There's X and Y chromosos, and by mixing them together, you get a sex. XX ans it's a girl, and XY ans it's a boy. It's a single chromoso out of the 46 we humans possess, with it's X and Y variation. How many percent of the geno over all is that?" Ayase-san said, regrettably.
"Well, it's clear that it's not that big of a difference."
"Because of that small difference, we're being pressed into a role."
In the midst of the pouring rain, only her voice reached my ears.
"It's the sa with self-identification. There are people whose gender given to them through genes is different from their real one, and this has slowly been more in the public's eye."
I knew of the logic Ayase-san was speaking of. But, I was born as a boy, and in my mind, I'm a boy as well, so it's a bit hard for to fully understand.
"Sa goes for love. n love, won love, both love, and both don't. Romantic feelings aren't normal, not foreseen by nature…You can both agree and disagree with that. It all cos back to the clothes we're decorating ourselves with. According to genes, you're a girl, you see yourself as a girl, and you like n, but when it cos to the clothes of the opposite sex…basically male clothes, it's not rare for won to like them. At the sa ti, it's not weird if a man were interested in wearing won's lingerie."
"Well, yeah."
"And yet, in that one mont, I completely disregarded that possibility." Ayase-san said with a regrettable tone.
Is this what I think it is? The macro point of view might be correct, but you can see differences when diving deeper into micro territory? Just because half of humanity is like this ans that this person must be like that as well—is greatly flawed thinking after all.
Even in the event that I was a man wearing female underwear on a daily basis, nothing would have been different, like we'd be sisters washing our underwear. If I had to guess, Ayase-san probably isn't bothered by the idea of having her underwear washed by her mother. However, that one mont today, when she thought of washing her underwear, her biologically-induced sense of sha got the better of her.
Normally I'd forget about it with an 'No problem', but Ayase-san seems to be bothered about it. She's always fighting after all. Facing these gender roles the public is constantly pushing onto others, she wants to carefully think everything through one by one. To , who just let everything happen normally, acting indifferent, that looked awfully dazzling.
"Well, if you're going to say that, then I should apologize myself. I felt embarrassed when I thought of Akiko-san washing my underwear."
"It's not a problem of how other people feel. I can't forgive myself. That's why I wanted to apologize."
"Hmmm…" I thought about it for a second.
I can agree with her thoughts, but this diligent thinking is probably only making her suffer in the process. Is there a more comfortable way of thinking that doesn't deny her ideas, I wonder.
I could see the school gate in the distance. That would an that the number of students around us would rise in number, and we couldn't continue talking like this.
"…It's like a reflex, right."
"Reflex?"
Sotis I can't follow what Ayase-san is thinking at all. Then again, that's pretty fun in itself.
"Like, when you act before you think. That one"
"Ahh, that. When you hit your knee, your leg moves, sothing like that?"
"Exactly."
There are tis when people act before their brains can keep up. When sothing flies towards you, you reflexively close your eyes. When you touch sothing hot, your hand pulls back before you tell it to.
"Humans have evolved to let their brain handle the thinking. So, why do we have this chanism inside of us, is what I often ask myself." I looked at Ayase-san.
"That's…If they used the ti to think during that ergency, they have less ti to actually act, right?"
"Yep. When your life is in danger, your body reacts faster than your brain can keep up. I do agree that we as living beings need this chanism."
"What was it…Ah, right." The wise Ayase-san reached a conclusion before I could even fully explain it.
However, I still decided to follow through.
"Basically, it's like a macro or a short-cut key in an app." I said, and Ayase-san giggled.
"What an interesting example."
"It's easy to understand, so I like to use it. But, sotis there are cases where even the macro can't do anything. If you're not aware of that fundantal logic, you can't add a new one."
"Right."
"'I just accidentally did that'—has an aspect to it that can't be helped, I think. I'm sure that there's sothing to gain even from a reflexive action."
"But, prejudice gives birth to discrimination, right?"
"Then just fix your view? You reflected on your own actions. This being the case, I don't think you need to worry about it any more than that. I feel like you'll be able to beco a person who can learn from these reflexive actions, and improve." I said with a light tone, and a smile.
Only now did I realize that Ayase-san wasn't walking next to anymore. I turned around, to see her feet frozen to the ground three steps behind .
"Ayase-san?"
Since she had her face cast downwards, I grew a bit worried, and called out to her.
"Asamura-kun, you…" Her voice was about to vanish in the pouring rain. "—You understand too well."
So…she said? She raised her head, and practically ran past , not even giving a glance as she did. She walked through the gate, inside the school, and quickly vanished out of my sight.
"What's wrong, Asamura?" Until Maru tapped on the shoulder, I stood still, just gazing at the direction she walked into.
The shoulder he tapped on was oddly cold, drenched even. Even so, my mind was only filled with Ayase-san's back that I had seen right before she disappeared.
Even as the final chi rang, the rain hadn't stopped. Today is Wednesday, a day where I have to work. Hence, I would have to return ho once, and then make my way to the bookstore in front of the train station. Doing that in the rain makes it multiple tis more annoying. Maybe I should have brought the uniform to school, and head there directly.
I gazed outside the window, admiring the pouring rain. Of course, I don't necessarily dislike the June rain like this. All the scents during the rain make it feel like sumr after all. It's just, on rainy days, I'd rather not have too much baggage with . That being the case, the uniform from work I always take ho with , as it's our policy that you wash it yourself when it's dirty, I left it at ho.
I could see the shoe lockers ahead of . As I made my way there, my gaze subconsciously moved left and right. When I realized my own actions, I shook my head. No no no, there's no way she'd be standing here again. She had an umbrella with her today.
"She probably went ho already." I said, and opened up the large umbrella in my hands.
The large black circle filled the area in front of , blocking off everything. I put it on my shoulder, and stepped outside. Of course, there's the part of it raining ever since early morning, but I also wanted to bring another umbrella with than yesterday, so that people who happened to see her with that umbrella wouldn't get the wrong idea. Maybe I don't need to be that worried after all, we're siblings in the end.
That being said, not even a week has passed since. Although, I do feel like I'm starting to understand Ayase-san a lot more. But, her words from this morning are still stuck in my head. With the rain pouring on the umbrella, I couldn't focus on my thoughts at all.
Shortly after, I made it back to the flat, and entered my ho. Once inside, the obnoxious sounds of the rain swiftly vanished. I put down the umbrella to dry, and sighed. Although my body cooled down quite a bit, I didn't have ti to take a bath. I had to make my way to work after all. Hence I headed to my room, passing Ayase-san's room in the process.
I didn't an to peek inside, but since the door was opened ever so slightly, I could check out the situation inside. Room-drying colored underwear and clothes were defenselessly scattered on the bed. I guess that makes sense during the rain. I'd normally throw everything together and let it dry, but depending on the clothes, they can be damaged through that, so there's people who dry them like this.
That being said, to think I'd actually co to see such scenery in my own ho. I can't keep looking at this, right. Since the laundry is drying, it's apparent that Ayase-san has co ho, and it'd be hell if she saw like this.
"Asamura-kun? You're ho, huh."
"Eeek!"
A voice spoke up behind , making straighten my back in shock. I turned around.
"What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing at all."
"Really, alright then." Ayase-san gave a dubious stare.
"I-I got my part-ti work so I'll be going now." I lightly waved my hand, and headed to my own room.
I still felt Ayase-san's sharp gaze glued to my back, but I didn't have the guts to turn around. I felt like an underwear thief for so reason, even though I just happened to spot it in the corner of my eye, and she herself said that underwear after the laundry trip is like a handkerchief, so I don't need to feel any guilt with that…right?
I stuffed the uniform of my part-ti work into my bag, stord out of the house, and during the entire ti I headed to my part-ti work, not even the sounds of the rain drowned out my heart's pumping.
I planned to imrse myself in my work. I wanted to remove all my mories from the previous incident. Especially that blue fabric I saw. I put on my uniform, added the na plate, and started working. Today, I was busy with organizing the inventory. We received so new novels that were released the other day, and they need to be put on the shelves, exchanged with those that didn't sell.
Tomorrow's Friday, and we get a great delivery of books, so we need to have everything prepared for the new deliveries as well. Basically, I need to keep the shelves open more than usual. Although we get rough predictions of how much a book will sell from the publisher, there's no way to accurately pin-point the behaviour of the custors themselves. As a result of that, you almost never fully sell out the books that co in. Next ti either. There's always books who stay as left-overs.
Ah, just like this one…When I was checking the light novel corner, I picked up a single volu. I was interested in that ever since it ca into stock. I don't think it aid to beco a harem-type romcom, but there's a solid 48 girls on the cover, so I guess it turned out as one in the end. I think you got lost in your search for originality, dear author.
Even if the publisher and author assu that it will beco a hit, there's still a chance that it won't sell at all. Many custors tend to be very conservative. I put that novel into a different pile, and continued with the sorting.
"You're storing them for yourself again~" When I turned around, Yomiuri-senpai stood there. "They'll just buy them back then, so as long as we can make so earnings, it should be fine—is probably what they thought as they stored them."
As a chain bookstore, it's been a trend like that, and yet I still don't think they'd buy such niche books. I an, I like them so it's fine.
"Maybe it's just that there's people who buy these new releases every single month~"
"I wonder if soone like that exists."
Yomiuri-senpai looked at with a grin. Eh, are you talking about ?
"Hehe. More importantly, Junior-kun, aren't you quite passionate about your work?"
"Can you not make it sound like I normally slack off the entire ti? I'm working like always."
"Really?"
"Am I acting weird or sothing?"
"I just happened to see a young man focus his everything on the work, so I wondered if sothing might have happened, I guess?"
"You sound like so far-away onlooker."
"That sounds nice. I want to beco like a stranger. That would an I could forget about all the troubles in this world, sigh."
When you sigh like that, I can't help but feel more curious, you know that.
"What about you, Senpai? Did sothing happen?"
"Interested?"
"If there's sothing that could get interested, maybe."
"Great response~ That's what I like about you~"
"Again, can you not say things that invite misunderstandings?"
It's really not fair to smile at while you say that.
"I'm fine right now. Just knowing that you care is enough salvation~"
"Is that how it works?"
"That's how it works. That's also why."
"Yes?"
"Take care of your cute little sister."
"Ueh!?"
"If you made her angry, buy her sothing sweet on the way ho."
"I-I didn't make her angry though."
Not yet at least.
"Then, what did you do?"
"Nothing at all."
"Nutting at all? That's pretty extre."
"Listen here, we had the sa dirty joke before, let's not waste more pages on that…"
"Ahaha. Well, you can't ignore her feelings, so if you don't take care of it now, it might explode later."
"Ugh…"
Since I couldn't say anything else, I just quickly walked away to focus on my work again, seen off by Yomiuri-senpai's grin.
"That person is just…Phew…" I faced the shelves again, as I muttered.
Even during such simple work like I'm doing now, you need to properly deal with any custor requests should there be any. As long as you wear the uniform of the bookstore here, custors will always co ask you for assistance. Most of them ask for the location of a book, which sounds simple enough, but they tend to do so without even looking into it themselves first. They don't give you publisher, nor author, keep the genre vague, and yet ask you to pull it out of your sleeve.
Even if you tell sothing like — It's a series where a lot of murders happen, I can't tell with that little information, I can't find the right thing no matter how earnest I might be willing to help. Rather than not being able to find it specifically, I find too many. Don't you have any more…hints?
A cat resolves the case.
A cat does?
I went to ask Yomiuri-senpai for help, and she imdiately guided the custor to the right book.
"This one's pretty popular. It's weird for you to not know about it."
"Is that so?"
Mystery is actually outside my type of genre.
"I would have been lost if they said it was a dog though."
"Is there sothing like that?"
"Of course, sothing like this."
Wow, hats off to you, mystery author.
You get the gist. Taking care of pre-orders for new releases, extras of the magazine missing, or just children being lost inside the store, there's a lot to do as an employee. Doing my work like that, my shift already ended. I changed my clothes, gave my farewell to Senpai, and left the store behind .
The rain had finally stopped, and thanks to the clear sky, I could see the moon between the valley of the buildings. Depending on the season, the way you see the moon is different. During the sumr, when the sun stands tall, the full moon is staying low, and in the winter it's the opposite. Since we're in the sumr solstice, the full moon doesn't stand that tall, making it look like it got squished between the buildings.
There was still so heat left in the air, but the cool breeze felt great. As I was walking along the street, the phone in my back pocket vibrated. When I took it out, I saw that I received a new LINE ssage. I didn't even have to swipe to tell that it was from Ayase-san. It was her first ssage towards .
'You saw it, right.'
I thought my heart stopped for a second. That was the worst possible one sentence to receive. I could tell what she was talking about even without any more context. I booted up the app, and confird the rest of the ssage. To sum it up, it would be as follows.
She was wondering what I could have done in front of her room, and eventually ca to the assumption that I might have been looking at the underwear inside her room. She does think of the underwear as a handkerchief after it went through laundry, but since I was the target of that embarrassnt this ti, she wants to confirm the aning of seeing it—It seems.
Before the approaching interrogation and possible torture, I sent her a short ssage explaining myself, and hurried ho. Seeing only her shoes at the entrance, I sighed in relief at the fact that our parents haven't co ho yet. When I raised my head again, I saw Ayase-san looking down at .
"I'm back, Ayase-san."
"Welco back, Asamura-kun."
Even though we were saying the sa thing, the intonation was absolutely different from before.
"Don't just freeze up at the entrance."
"Ah, yeah…"
I did tell her an excuse, but I wonder if she'll even believe …
"Go back to the room first."
"Eh? Which room?"
"Are you still interested in my room?"
"I will be on stand-by in my own room, thank you very much."
At a ti like this, it'd be best to not argue back, surely. I went to my room, put down my back, and sat down on the floor, waiting for Ayase-san.
"Why are you sitting on the floor like that?"
"Well, I just felt like doing it."
I couldn't tell her that I was in preparation to prostrate myself. I don't know if she'd forgive then.
"Here."
I raised my head, only to see a steaming cup in front of .
"Eh?"
"Hot chocolate. I'll take it if you don't want it though."
"N-No, I'll…take it…" I said, and accepted the cup.
I do prefer coffee, but I'm happy about sothing warm now—Wait, is this what I think it is? I looked up at Ayase-san's face, and as expected, her eyes were fuming with anger.
"So…about what you texted ."
"Ah, yeah."
"The door happened to be half open, and your eyes got pulled towards what's inside. Then, when I called out to you, you ran away, huh."
"That's about it."
"Because it could look like you were about to go inside to steal sothing?"
"Well…I…guess…"
"Even though they're your little sister's?"
"That is true, but…" My words got stuck in my throat.
If this was about my real little sister or mother, then it'd be embarrassing, but that would be about it. However in this case…it couldn't be helped. This is only the 5th day since we've beco siblings—The second that excuse ca up inside my head, her expression relaxed a bit.
"Sorry, that just now was a bit unfair."
"Eh."
"By law, we are siblings, but that doesn't an you can't suddenly act like a real older brother the second the law cos into play—At least not in your head."
"…Yeah, I get where you're coming from."
The two of us are living under the sa roof, and at the very least act like siblings, as a family. It is expected from us that we do that, and we cannot betray these expectations, nor do we have any plans of doing so. Because that would trouble my old man and Akiko-san. That being said, we can't act like siblings who've lived together for all of their 16 years. A human's thought process isn't so code that can be edited, or a program that can be rewritten.
It's a fact that we've been total strangers a week ago. Now, Ayase-san is saying that it's necessary for to beco aware of that. She always tries to be fair after all.
"But, now we're even. Let's just forget about this, alright?"
"Even?"
"I think that being entranced by my underwear was another type of reflexive action. This morning, I reflexively said those words. That's why, I'd say we're even. I think you're the type of person who can learn from these reflexive actions as well, just as you can believe that I can."
"I'm happy to hear that."
"By the way."
Hm?
"You're basically saying that my underwear was alluring enough to completely charm you, right."
"I never said that, no."
"Then, it's not alluring at all…is it. Huh."
"…Are you teasing by any chance?"
"Now, who knows. But, I can't exactly leave this restless atmosphere going, right?"
"I…guess."
"You…definitely hold a certain desire towards possessing so of my underwear, right?"
"Urk…Well, honestly speaking, it'd be a lie if I said I didn't have any carnal desires like that…But, I'm not going to do anything just because of that, okay?
"Hmm…So you actually have desires."
"It'd be pretty troubleso if I didn't. But, having them, and acting according to them is different." I said with as serious of an expression as I could.
"Pfft. That's right, I'm sorry for teasing you. Let's just leave it at that for now."
"Thank you very much…"
I gave her my honest thanks, and figured out just what she was trying to say. You can't undo an emotion you once had. Even if that was just a misunderstanding. Her anger at having seen her underwear doesn't vanish. Instead of throwing this emotion at , she instead explained as to why she was angry, and remained calm. What amazing anger control that is. Adjusting, huh…I'm still far from reaching her level.
"But, I'm glad."
"Hm?"
"I didn't want you to think that the design was weird. I might have needed to throw it away then."
"…I feel like I'm starting to understand what kind of personality you have, Ayase-san."
"Really?"
"Yeah, a bit."
Listening to my words, Ayase-san showed a faint smile.
───
1 Made from fish and kelp, very traditionally Japanese
2 Type of sweet rice wine
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