V1 Ch-1 part 1【Me, My Step-sister, and the Gal】 - ◆Part １【Although the family has increased.】

TL: Mowaso

ED: Anima

◆Part １【Although the family has increased.】

『How’s Tsumugi doing, Shinji?』

The person on the other end of the phone was my father, who was away from home for work.

Tsumugi was my cousin, and now she’s a member of the Nagumo household, playing the role of a “little sister” in our family.

“Yeah, She’s fine… no problem.”

『I see. It’s okay then. I’m sorry for not being home, and for putting you through a lot even though I was the one who brought this up.』

Although I wasn’t on loud-speaker, my phone emitted a loud sound that echoed throughout the room. My father, who was an unusually huge man, also had a loud voice.

“Leave it to me. I was worried about Tsumugi too. I’ll take care of things here. As for Dad, as long as he’s making money, that’s all that matters.”

『Shinji, as I keep telling you. It’s not about the money. I’m doing this for the client’s satisfaction.』

“All right, all right. Anyway, you don’t have to feel responsible for everything, Dad.”

My father was still a very professional man..

『I’m sorry, I know you’re just starting to get used to high school life.』

“…It’s more difficult for Tsumugi than for me. I’m fine.”

『I’m counting on you. I mean, you’re the type of guy who doesn’t have a problem with being alone.』

“If you’re going to make fun of me, I’m going to use your props to reshape you.”

『Don’t worry about it. There are times when people have to manage on their own. The experiences you have now will come in handy someday.』

“…I think there are more important things to worry about right now than the question of whether I’m a loner or not.”

However, it was hard to be cared for. As I was unable to take it anymore, I diverted the topic by talking about my daily life and we had a father-son conversation for a while.

『And Ayaka too… though she was prepared for it, she wouldn’t have left her daughter to die.』

Ayaka was Tsumugi’s mother and my father’s younger sister.

My father and Ayaka-san were close siblings, and losing his sister must have been painful for him. Despite his mental state, he did everything in his power to take care of Tsumugi before she came to our house, and I wanted to do as much as I could to follow his example.

Tsumugi was brought into our house after losing her mother, Ayaka, who was her only family member.

Tsumugi’s family circumstances were complicated. Ayaka-san was a single parent, and she had raised Tsumugi by herself, while keeping “Nagumo” as her surname. Although Tsumugi never knew her father’s face nor did she ever have contact with him, as far as I know, she never longed for him. I guess she was satisfied with her life with Ayaka-san. However, Ayaka-san wasn’t on good terms with her own family, except for my father, so now that Tsumugi was left alone, the only place for her to go was to my house.

Originally, Tsumugi was my cousin, but now she has become my step-sister.

As her cousin, I’d known Tsumugi since childhood, therefore- I was in favor of her living with us, however, I had no idea how to deal with someone who had just lost her mother.

I haven’t told my father about this yet.

For my father, I’m sure he was still thinking that we were very close to each otherー like when we were little.

My father was an adult, but he was much closer to Tsumugi than I was.

I knew that I had to do something about it.

『Well, there’s no use feeling sorry about it now, so I’ll leave her in your care for a while, Shinji.』

“All right, leave it to me.”

I said briefly.

After hanging up the phone, I began to think about Tsumugi, who was in the next room.

★

Tsumugi had always been a so-called “good girl”.

She could be a bit cheeky at times, probably because her mother, Ayaka-san, was kind to her, but back when she was in grade school, she often hid behind Ayaka-san and didn’t give an impression of being assertive.

She was now a junior high school student, and although she didn’t wear any makeup, she looked pretty cute.

The black hair that stretched just above her shoulders was so glossy that it shone like an angel’s halo on her head, her eyes were big and she had pale white skin, her limbs were thin and she was quite petite for a middle schooler. I was concerned about her slim figure, but maybe that was just how girls are.

She appeared to be mentally calm at first glance when she came into the Nagumo household.

“This will be Tsumugi’s room starting today. For now there’s only the essentials, so the room looks bleak. But don’t worry, we will buy the rest of the furniture as you need it.”

“This room is nice enough. I didn’t have my own room in my old apartment.”

I showed her the room we had prepared for her, and Tsumugi jumped up and down on the bed happily.

“My room is next door, so you can call me easily if you’d watched a horror movie and couldn’t go to the toilet by yourself.”

“Shin-nii, I’m a junior high school student now! I don’t get scared by movies anymore!”

Tsumugi stood on the bed, puffing out her chest and trying to look confident.

“In such cases, Shin-nii will probably not be able to sleep alone, so I’ll take you with me when I go to the toilet.”

“You’re not always honest about these kinds of things.”

“Because this is the first time I’ve ever lived in a house with stairs and hallways…”

“Well, it looks like a western-style house with zombies wandering around.”

I was worried that she might be more confused or depressed, so I was relieved to see her behavior was not so different from the past.

When my father left home for his job and it was only the two of us living together for a while, I was careful at first, but when I thought that things would be the same as before, I was caught off guard.

It was in the middle of the night.

I woke up to use the toilet, and as I walked past Tsumugi’s room, I heard a sobbing sound coming behind the door.

I was hesitant for a moment because even though she was my cousin, it was still a girl’s room, but I couldn’t leave her alone, so I gently opened the door.

“Tsumugi…?”

I approached Tsumugi’s bed and found her curled up, covered with a blanket.

“What’s wrong, are you okay?”

I crouched down beside her bed.

“…Nothing.”

Tsumugi’s hair was disheveled as she peeked out from the blanket.

It was hard to see because of the darkness, but even with just the light coming from outside, I could see that Tsumugi’s eyes were red.

“Your eyes were red. You’ve been crying… haven’t you?”

Now that her mother, Ayaka-san, was no longer around, I was the only one who could support her. With that in mind, I couldn’t afford to turn a blind eye to this.

“It’s really nothing, I just had a scary dream.”

Still, Tsumugi tried to smile.

Even the insensitive me could tell that she was forcing a smile.

But I had no idea how much Tsumugi trusted me.

The girl who had been hurt by losing her mother looked like a different person from my cousin whom I was close to. I wondered if the trust I had built up so far would work, but I thought that if I tried to step in, I might hurt her even more.

“If you have any problem… don’t hesitate to tell me.”

That was the only thing I could say, as someone who didn’t understand Tsumugi well enough.

“Un, okay.”

Tsumugi gave me a smile that hinted at a soft rejection and concern.

I knew that Tsumugi would never share her grief of losing her mother with me.

She would keep it to herself.

Perhaps time would solve it if I leave her alone.

Still, I felt frustrated that I couldn’t do anything for Tsumugi. There was no greater day than today, where I regretted having spent all of my life living as a loner, who didn’t need to be concerned about others.

I didn’t get in squabbles or quarrels with Tsumugi, but that didn’t mean I knew what she was really thinking, and I often had to guess her true feelings, which was extremely difficult for me as a loner. I couldn’t figure out what she really wanted. The days went by and soon enough, three months went by of living like this.

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