My Little Sister Can’t Cry

“Uhh, it’s a little cold, isn’t it?”

“It’s May, I told you it’s cold outside.”

Haruta and Fuyu sneaked out of the house.

Haruta is wearing a hoodie and a jersey underneath.

Fuyu has her long brown hair tied back, wearing a black jersey jacket and pink shorts.

“So, do you need to change your clothes? Should we go back?”

“It’s fine. Let’s go Onii-chan.”

Fuyu is walking slowly behind Haruta.

Normally, she would happily wrap her hand around Haruta’s, but as expected, she is not in the mood for that today.

“Wait a minute.”

Haruta goes to a convenience store, buys a can of hot coffee for himself, and a can of hot cocoa for Fuyu.

Then he hands the hot cocoa to Fuyu.

“Woah, it’s warm…”

“That’s a little better, right? Ah, let’s go over there.”

There is a park right next to the convenience store.

Haruta sits on the park bench next to Fuyu.

“No one is here right now. I thought there will be some couples.”

“It seems that there aren’t much people around here at night. Well, I’ve never paid much attention to it either.”

“We don’t usually go out here at night, this might be our first time coming here at this time.”

It’s just a small park with swings and slides.

The park is just a five-minute walk from their house, so Haruta and Fuyu used to play here a lot when they were little.

“Do you remember, Onii-chan? When I was little, I was playing here by myself and the boys here bullied me. Then even though I didn’t call you, Onii-chan showed up, threatened the boys and scared them away.”

“…that ever happened?”

Haruta has been physically large since he was a child, he can’t even remember losing a fight.

Even Matsukaze has never beaten him.

But still, it wasn’t easy to get rid of a few bullies alone.

“Yes it happened, I remember it so clearly. I thought that unlike other girls, I had a real hero.”

“It would’ve been a wonderful story if you didn’t add all those unnecessary things like ‘even though I didn’t call you’ or ‘I had a real hero’.”

“I’m just adding them to hide my embarrassment, please understand.”

“I know.”

Haruta sips his can of coffee.

Since there is no milk or sugar added, it is very bitter.

Haruta never had black coffee before, but tonight he wants to taste its bitterness.

“But there’s one thing that make sense to me.”

“Hmm…?”

“We even admit it ourselves that Onii-chan and I have a suspicious relationship, but it seems that it doesn’t turn out to be that way.”

“…if you think of it positively.”

Haruta and Fuyu are not blood related—

Then it is not surprising if they have feelings for each other that go beyond ordinary siblings.

But—

“I’ve known for as long as I can remember that Fuyu is my sister. I never suspected that you’re not related to me, and yet, I love you in a way that a normal brother would not.”

“Abnormal…you can call it abnormal, Onii-chan.”

“You don’t need to tell me that. Fuyu, I’m sorry but, you aren’t normal either.”

“You’re very direct Onii-chan.”

Fuyu drinks her hot cocoa with a troubled look on her face.

Although Haruta’s words were a bit rough, Fuyu seems calm.

Fuyu may have been stunned this morning, but she doesn’t seem distraught.

Fuyu is still in middle school, it must be a big shock to her.

Haruta is also shocked by the truth, but perhaps he was able to maintain his composure because Fuyu didn’t cry out loud.

Haruta chuckles—

“Abnormal…certainly, neither of us is normal. I know that my friends got spoiled by their older brothers too, but they don’t get spoiled as much as me.

“I guess I’ve spoiled you too much.”

If Haruta had pushed Fuyu away even just a little, Fuyu might see her brother differently now.

“Huhhh…”

Fuyu lets out a big sigh.

“Siblings who are not related by blood aren’t uncommon in manga and dramas, but I never imagined I would have that kind of drama in my life.”

“Perhaps it’s because you are satisfied with yourself right now?”

“Eh?”

“People love to imagine the impossible because they know it won’t happen. If I don’t have Fuyu, I’d maybe say to myself, ‘if only I have a cute little sister’—I might’ve imagined about having a cute little sister myself.”

“I see now, you’re really smart, Onii-chan…I’m satisfied with current self, so I didn’t imagine things like that…eh? I just realized, I’m still calling you Onii-chan since this morning, I should stop, shouldn’t I…?”

Fuyu suddenly looks like she is about to cry.

Her big beautiful eyes are teary.

It’s as if Fuyu is shocked to realize it after all this time…

“Don’t worry about it, you can call me whatever you want. You know I don’t mind.”

“Ah…yeah. Okay then, Onii-chan.”

Fuyu has called Haruta ‘Onii-chan’ countless of times since she was a little girl.

After all, Haruta has no intention to be a stranger to Fuyu either.

“By the way Fuyu, you called yourself ‘Fuyu-chan’ this morning.”

“Eh!?”

Fuyu’s eyes widened in surprise.

It seems that she had unconsciously call herself ‘Fuyu-chan’.

“I wonder how many years has it been since I last hear that. You haven’t call youself ‘Fuyu-chan’ since we were playing in this park.”

“P-Please forget about it…I let my guard down. It’s really embarrassing to call myself ‘Fuyu-chan’ at my age…”

Fuyu’s cheeks are blushing in red.

“But Onii-chan—”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“Ah, nothing…”

There is clearly something going on.

“Speaking of names…”

“What is it now?”

“…to think about it, our names are quite similar. ‘Haruta’ and ‘Fuyu’ was it really coincidence?”

“It’s not uncommon for parents to put the season of their child’s birth in their child’s names.”

Haruta doesn’t question the simplicity of his name compared to Fuyu’s complicated name.

“…ah!? Don’t tell me…they pretended that we aren’t actual siblings, but the truth is, I was born in a double affair between mama and papa!?”

“That’s too complicated. After all, you know dad won’t lie to us now.”

“That’s true…”

Surprisingly, it seems that Fuyu still hasn’t given up hope that they are real siblings.

The possibility of Haruta’s father and Fuyu’s mother has known each other since Haruta’s father first divorce—Haruta’s head hurts just thinking about it.

Haruta doesn’t want to speculate such things about his parents.

“But mama is divorcing papa. A parent’s divorce only happens once in a lifetime, right?”

“I’m sure this is the second time we’ve experienced this. Dad said they got divorced and remarried each other, right?”

“…that’s right. I didn’t really listen to papa, but he certainly said that.”

Perhaps, they didn’t really listen to their father because none of it really matter to them.

Whatever happened in the past, it happened before Haruta and Fuyu could remember anything.

“I don’t need two papas.”

Fuyu said so in a short and decisive manner.

Then they sip their drink silently for a while.

After finishing his drink, Haruta returns to the convenience store to throw away his empty canned coffee.

“Hmm?”

When Haruta returns to the park, Haruta sees Fuyu sitting on the swing.

Fuyu looks very lonely, like a lost child—