V2 - ■ Prologue

Translator: AJ1703

Editor: Matsu

■Prologue

“Hey, Tsumugi-chan, what do you think this is?”

Sitting on the sofa in our living room, Yua asked Tsumugi, who was sitting next to her.

“It’s our key to our house, isn’t it?”

“Nfufu. That’s right. That’s absolutely right.”

Yua put her hands on her cheeks, smiled, and pulled out a key from her chest, showing it off to Tsumugi.

“It’s the one that Shinji gave me the other day~.”

“Now Yua-san is one of us, right?”

Tsumugi was in a good mood, too, and gave Yua a high five.

The duplicate key that I gave Yua when she joined the gathering of the Nagumo family was hanging from her neck on a chain that looked like a necklace.

Of course, the relationship between Yua and I is a secret from the rest of the school, so we hide it when we are at school. At first, Yua didn’t want to hide it at all, so I did my best to stop her, and here we are.

Yua would jump in front of me sitting on the sofa across from me.

“This is a sign to unlock my mind too, right?

“Stop it. Don’t do that. Don’t push the key to my chest after interpreting it strangely…”

“But Shinji, you’ve developed a body that gets lonely without me, haven’t you?”

Yua sat down on my lap, smiling and still grabbing the key. I don’t want her to press her ass against my lap. And she’s wearing a school uniform skirt right now. Please stop before my heart explodes.

“No, not me, because Tsumugi will miss you…”

“Oh, Shin-nii, you’re lying again!”

Tsumugi, across from me, puffed out her cheeks.

“I know that Shin-nii ran through the city at night calling out Yua-san’s name, because he was lonely after Yua-san left!”

I don’t know if I ever did anything like that as if it was from a sweet and sour youth movie…

I don’t regret giving Yua the duplicate key to our house, but there are times when I think I’m in trouble.

When Yua got the key to our house, she seemed to be happier than I expected and insisted on its existence at every opportunity. That’s all well and good, but she adds more meaning to the fact that I gave her the key than necessary, which makes me feel embarrassed because I feel like I’ve done something terrible.

Yua and I are not dating.

We’re only acting like lovers in front of Tsumugi to make her feel at ease.

Yua is just being kind to her.

I used to think so, but lately, I’ve been getting more and more convinced that she really likes me. The more I became conceited.

…Well, a lot of things had happened to get to this point, and on top of that, I’ve been thinking, 『Huh? I’ve always thought of Shinji as just a friend, though?』 I think I would lose faith in women if someone said something like that to me.

“I’ll take the key away from you if you get distracted like that. If you accidentally drop it on the side of the road, some bad guy might pick it up. They might even break into our house and harm Tsumugi.

I warned Yua, who was still sitting on my left knee.

“Don’t worry. I won’t drop it. I’ve put it in an appropriate place.”

Yua tilted her head to look up at me, her golden chestnut hair spilling over her shoulders.

“An appropriate place, you say…”

That’s the problem, isn’t it?

Yua, who is known for her large breasts, had hidden the key by pushing it inside of her cleavage.

Because of this, I can’t just take it away and say, “You’re being so annoying, I’m going to confiscate it.”

“If Shinji loses the other key, just let me know and I’ll lend it to you right away!”

With a big smile on her face, she pointed her thumb at her chest, but unfortunately, she would never get the chance to do that, because I would be too nervous to touch the key that came out from between her breasts.

“Well, since we’re here, why don’t we practice picking the key now?”

There it is. That smirk on her face. She’s in full-on teasing mode.

“No thanks. I won’t do it.”

“Why not~? Let’s do it~.”

“I never lose my keys, so I don’t need to practice.”

“Let’s insert the key and turn it together.”

“What are you trying to do to make this feel like our first time working together…?”

“Mou~, Shin-nii, you’re acting so bashful again!”

Before I knew it, Tsumugi had arrived in front of me and slid into the chair next to me, somewhat resentful. It’s a single-seater sofa, so I’m sandwiched between my step-sister and my fake girlfriend, which made me feel small in two ways.

“No, you can’t keep talking like that, Yua-san will hate you.”

Tsumugi, whose cheeks still looked like a blowfish, repeatedly bumped me on the shoulder.

“I want Shin-nii to get to know Yua-san better and better, you see?”

Suddenly, Tsumugi’s face became dreamy.

“Shin-nii needs to be more honest with Yua-san.”

Tsumugi mistakenly thought that Yua and I were dating, and at the moment, I had no intention of revealing the truth.

Even though we’re just only ‘pretending’ to be lovers, I can’t help but feel excited about the fact that we are no longer just classmates.

“Shinji, since you’re here, you can say ‘I love you’ right here and now, okay?”

“Stop it. Don’t tease me.”

“Shin-nii, Yua-san is saying that, you know, now’s your chance.”

“I have a sense of timing, you know…”

When I was reluctant, the beautiful girls on both sides of me increased the pressure physically and mentally.

“It’s not the kind of thing that you can just simply say.”

I got up from the couch to get away from the beautiful girls sandwich and pretended to go to the kitchen to get a drink.

With the disgruntled girls at my back, I thought.

It’s not that I don’t like Yua, it’s just that I’d like to get to know her better if I could.

Getting along with Yua and building a solid relationship with her will lead to Tsumugi’s happiness.

But can I still say that I’m getting along with Yua for the sake of Tsumugi?

I felt an embarrassing heat in my cheeks as I imagined that maybe I wanted to be with Yua regardless of what happened to Tsumugi.

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Translator’s Afterword: MC is just being a tsundere to a certain extent lol. Can’t be honest with his feelings. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to release chapters for this series on a daily basis since I have other light novels I’m working on right now unlike before that this was like my first and only one at the time.

Please give my other light novel series a read too, thanks!

“How Could You Like Another Girl When You Already Have A Cute Fiancée Like Me?”

“She Was Actually My Step-sister.”

“My Sister’s Best Friend? Already My Female Friend? Then, What’s Next―?”