V1 Ch-1 part 4【Me, My Step-sister, and the Gal】 - ◆Part 4【My Step-sister's Friend Will Quickly Close The Distance Between Us】

Translator: AJ1703

Editor: Matsu

◆Part 4【My Step-sister’s Friend Will Quickly Close The Distance Between Us】

One day, on a certain night.

“Hey, Shin-nii.”

While we were having dinner alone, Tsumugi said so.

“Can I bring a friend this Sunday?”

“Yeah, sure.”

The fact that Tsumugi was talking to me, and that I felt that I was a friend of Tsumugi’s, an important person who could support her, made me feel excited inside.

“It’s a girl, okay?”

This reassured me, since I had been secretly afraid that her friend might be a boy.

“Then I’d better go out somewhere.”

“Eh, why are you going away? If you have plans, then it can’t be helped.”

“No, I don’t have any plans… Am I free to stay?”

“Sure. Also, she’s going to have dinner with us.”

I see. So you need a cook. Well, I don’t care what it is, as long as Tsumugi is relying on me.

Dinner with Tsumugi’s friend, whom I’ve never met before…

As for me, even though she’s a middle school student, she’s from the opposite sex, so I can’t afford to be complacent, but it’s a lot easier than eating with a gorgeous gal in close proximity.

“Alright~, I’m going to make a meal with all my skills~!”

I said so, in high spirits.

★

And then it was a holiday.

While I was taking care of the housework, Tsumugi came home from her trip.

She had gone to pick up her friend.

I’m starting to get nervous…

“Pardon for the intrusion!”

When I saw a figure appear from behind Tsumugi, I nearly fell over in the manner of a summer salt kick.

A tall, shapely woman with long, chestnut-black hair, strong eyes, and a look that suggests she’s always looking for a chance to tease.

Why is Takarai Yua here in my house?

And when did she meet Tsumugi?

“…Tsumugi, is that person your friend…?”

While trying to control my agitation, I managed to ask.

“It’s Yua!”

Tsumugi said with a twinkle in her eye.

I hadn’t seen Tsumugi this happy ever since she had come to live with the Nagumo family.

“It’s so beautiful! It sparkles like a star. I was so surprised when I saw the real thing.”

“Hey, you’re a star!”

Takarai, who was in a bad mood, struck a pose like a charlatan, while Tsumugi hugged her arm and squealed.

What’s with all the nostalgia…

I was starting to get a little angry.

I felt as if Tsumugi had been taken from me.

“She seems older than you Tsumugi from the looks of it, how on earth did you guys meet?”

Out of jealousy of Takarai, I pretended to be a stranger.

“You know from the internet, Tsumugi-chan is on Twitter, right? After I found out that Nagumo-kun’s little sister was Tsumugi-chan, I looked for Tsumugi-chan’s Twitter account on the internet and found it, so I started sending her DMs.” [TLN: DMs = Direct Messages]

I asked Tsumugi, but it was Takarai who answered.

Tsumugi was certainly staring at her phone in her spare time.

I thought she was communicating with her friends at school, but it turned out to be Takarai… No wonder she’s more obsessed with her phone than I am.

However, she should be aware of the fact that she has been using social networking sites to reveal her personal information to the extent that Takarai can identify her.

“You can’t do something like that, Tsumugi. Don’t you dare do anything dangerous like that again.”

It’s a good thing that it was Takarai, but… in the future, I may have to consider banning her from Twitter.

“But Yua said she was a classmate of Shin-nii’s, and I thought it would be okay to meet her if she was Shin-nii’s friend. I was curious to know what kind of person she was.”

Tsumugi said with an embarrassed look on her face.

“…Why did you tell her you were in my class!?”

“If I don’t tell her that I’m related to Nagumo-kun, then Tsumugi-chan won’t contact me back. Tsumugi-chan is smart enough to ignore DMs from people she doesn’t know.”

“Even I can tell if someone’s dangerous or not.”

Tsumugi gave me a reproachful look.

There was something on my mind, so I called Takarai into the corner of the living room.

“…Is this the kind of cooperation you’re going to give me?”

“Are you surprised?”

Takarai said, not seeming to offend me.

“Yeah. I mean, if you’ve been communicating with Tsumugi for a while, you could’ve at least told me.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but that’s a secret between girls. I was going to tell you sooner or later. But since Nagumo-kun was troubled, I thought I shouldn’t keep it a secret any longer, so I decided to come here today and tell you.”

Then Takarai suddenly approached me and whispered in my ear.

“Tsumugi-chan, is a really nice girl. I thought she might be difficult to get along with, but I’ve grown to like her.”

Takarai’s breath invaded my earholes, and my heart started to pound so hard I couldn’t move.

“It’s because Nagumo-kun has been watching over us even when we were sad, isn’t it?”

That alone made me feel as if everything I had done up to that point had paid off.

“Well then, Tsumugi-chan, let’s play together.”

The two of them started playing in the living room, ignoring me.

I couldn’t join them, as I still had chores to do, so I glanced over at them as I worked, but I could see that Tsumugi was enjoying herself.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Tsumugi so happy.

Maybe that’s just how she looks at school.

But when she was with Takarai, she didn’t show any sadness over the loss of her mother, just the same old Tsumugi I’ve always known.

★

I poked my head into the fridge to make dinner for the three of us, including Takarai.

Even though I had just done the shopping yesterday and had enough ingredients, I had to choose my menu carefully because if I served something strange to my “friend of Tsumugi”, I might lose her trust.

“Nagumo-kun, can I help you?”

Takarai, who was supposed to be in Tsumugi’s room, came over and said so.

“Since I just barged in out of the blue, I don’t feel like sitting around.”

Takarai stood right next to me.

“To begin with, Takarai-san, is cooking─”

I was about to ask her if she could cook, but then I realized that Takarai lived alone. Takarai lives alone, so she must have acquired some housekeeping skills.

“So can you cut up that one for me?”

“Okay~.”

Takarai rolled up her arms and began to chop the green onions with a practiced hand.

“You’re pretty good.”

“It’s as easy as this~.”

Takarai seemed unhappy at being underestimated, but gradually she began to hum.

As I stirred the pot, I glanced at Takarai next to me.

It’s not every day that I see a woman standing in the kitchen in our male-dominated house, and the feeling of discomfort makes my heart itch.

I hadn’t seen Ayaka-san cooking since I went to Tsumugi’s house for a visit.

I felt that Takarai was somewhat similar to Ayaka-san.

Not in appearance, but in atmosphere.

The way she pulls you into her pace before you know it, she’s just like her.

Well, I’m not used to the opposite sex, so there’s a possibility that I just have too few things to compare her to, and as soon as I see her with the opposite sex, I feel like she’s all Ayaka-san.

Perhaps it was because of the number of people I had been involved with that I was less wary of Takarai.

“Thank you for today, Takarai-san.”

These words leaked out.

“What’s with you all of a sudden~?”

Takarai grinned, but seemed to be somewhat embarrassed.

“I’ve never met anyone around the same age as Tsumugi. It was refreshing to see how she gets excited in front of people other than me.”

“I don’t think it’s because I’m in front of her.”

Takarai puts the knife on the cutting board.

“Tsugumi-chan, she’s not as sad about her mother’s absence as Nagumo-kun thinks, though?”

Takarai’s words came as a shock to me.

I had always thought that Tsumugi was completely sad about the loss of her mother. I always had a strong image of her as she was when she first came to the Nagumo family, crying because she missed her mother even though she acted normal in front of me.

I couldn’t even say that an outsider could understand what I was going through.

When Takarai heard about Tsumugi’s situation… she cried in front of me, who wasn’t very close to her, without worrying about her makeup falling off.

The person who was so emotionally involved with Tsumugi would never say anything out of line.

“I know you want to take good care of Tsumugi-chan, but I think it’s hard for Tsumugi-chan to be seen as a poor, damaged girl forever.”

Takarai said.

“If you want to get along with Tsumugi-chan, Nagumo-kun, you should see more of her, don’t you think?”

That kind smile kept me from being too stubborn.

“Yeah, maybe…”

I was grateful for the hint of a different point of view, as I had no solution and could do nothing but dwell on it. The bottom of my heart, which had been pulled down by a weight, felt light and airy.

As I was standing side by side with Takarai in the kitchen,

“Yua-san and Shin-nii…”

Before I knew it, Tsumugi was standing near me, her eyes sparkling.

I could feel some kind of envy in her eyes.

“Are you guys actually going out or something?”

Tsumugi said, squirming.

I’m the one who’s embarrassed.

“Of course not─”

Before I could deny it out of fear, I was being squeezed from next to me.

Takarai and I are so close to each other that our cheeks almost stick together.

“If that were the case, what would you think, Tsumugi-chan?”

Takarai was smiling and pressing for a hell of an answer.

“I’m very happy!”

Tsumugi replied with an exaggerated motion of spreading her hands as wide as she could.

“I’ve been worried about… Shin-nii’s loneliness and lack of a girlfriend.”

“Eh…!?”

I felt like my entire body froze up.

No way… I thought I was hiding it from Tsumugi so she wouldn’t find out that I was a loner.

“Shin-nii, you’re always at home when I get home, and even on your days off you’re just always doing homework or studying and never going out to play… I thought you must be having a very hard time at school… Whenever that happens, I always feel so sad that I feel like crying. I wondered if it was okay for me to be the only one having fun at school.”

Tsumugi’s shoulders rolled up in sadness.

Yua, who was standing next to me, gave me a shocked look, like… she was sorry to hear this.

Apparently, I had made a grave mistake.

It seems that Tsumugi was more worried about me than I was about her.

If anything, she seemed to think that the school life of her lonely cousin was even more miserable and cruel than her mother’s death…

I didn’t know it was about me, but… I was in such a bad situation, wasn’t I?

In such a situation, “Tsumugi likes phones. Well, it’s more high-spec and reliable than I am.” If someone said that to me, it wouldn’t be a self-deprecating comment, it would be a comment about the pain of inferiority in a lonely school life, and I would have to apologize… I’m sorry, Tsumugi.

“But thank God, Shin-nii wasn’t alone!”

Tsumugi hugged us, holding me and Takarai together.

“I’m so glad.”

And there were tears in her eyes.

“…Tsumugi, I’m sorry for worrying you.”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth, that Takarai was just a classmate, and I didn’t even have time to worry about what she would think.

“Look, I’ve got friends here, so please stop crying.”

“Eh, a friend… you say? She’s not your girlfriend?”

Tsumugi’s shoulders slumped.

“No, no, she’s my girlfriend!”

I struggled to rephrase. I had no choice but to say so, since Tsumugi’s depression was much worse than I imagined when I called Takarai a “friend”.

“I was going to say that I’ve been going out with Nagumo-kun today, while playing with Tsumugi-chan.”

Takarai started to get into a bad mood.

“See, I got this from Nagumo-kun, right?”

“Eh!?”

Takarai’s unexpected behavior was right in front of my eyes, which made my voice sound strange.

“Wow, it’s true!”

A silver ring was stuck on her finger as she stretched it out to the squealing Tsumugi.

Of course, I’ve never given Takarai a ring, or even thought about giving one.

Takarai usually wears accessories that are against school rules, and I’ve seen her wear a ring before, but it was sparkling on her middle finger. Not the ring finger. What are you making of this?

“When I saw you two standing in the kitchen, the two of you looked like a mother and father.”

Tsumugi smiled.

“It’s amazing how you can see the future, isn’t it?”

When Takarai patted Tsumugi’s head, Tsumugi’s cat-like eyes lit up with happiness.

I now understand why Tsumugi wants me and Yua to be “lovers” instead of “friends”.

Tsumugi doesn’t know her father. I thought Tsumugi thought that as long as she had her mother, Ayaka-san, she didn’t care about her father, but I was wrong.

I guess Tsumugi has a longing for a family with both parents. Maybe it’s because she never met her father before. If Tsumugi’s real father had been by her side, she would have been able to remain as “the daughter of Ayaka Nagumo”.

If the three of us, including me, Takarai, and Tsumugi, look like a family, and if she looks this happy, then… I may have to continue to be a “lover” with Takarai in front of Tsumugi.