Episode 11 – My Step Sister Should’ve Had a Brother

My name is Kaizei Sora, a highschool freshman who’s been attending a preparatory school since spring.

I only had a father in my family, but he will remarry soon and I will have a stepmother.

However, it seems that stepmother also has a child from the previous marriage, a boy of the same age. 

His name is Kawabe Riku,  a boy who would later be named Kaizei Riku. 

I think he was born one month earlier than me, so I’m in the position of being a younger sister, but I never thought that he would have the same name as my brother. 

I had a brother who was the same age as me.

Kaizei Riku.

He had the same name as my step brother, who looked exactly like me….an identical twin.

He has a gentle personality and isn’t that good at all-around sport but very athletic, and he can study, that kind of older brother I’m proud of.

He looks exactly like me and he’s so cool.

……No, I didn’t mean to say that I’m cute or what.

My older brother was so cool that the other boys around him looked like potatoes. Thinking about it now, maybe I have a brother complex.

However, during the summer vacation in my 6th grade of elementary school, my mother and brother were involved in an accident and passed away.

Their death cast a dark shadow all over me, and I could no longer express my emotions well.

When I tried to laugh, I couldn’t laugh, and when I tried to cry, I couldn’t shed a tear….i was struck by the feeling that I had lost something called emotions.

When I became a middle schooler, I gradually returned to myself, but the feelings that I had lost once didn’t come back.

The sadness and grief of losing my brother haunted my heart, and I couldn’t get along well with others.

However, nobody knows what’s inside my heart.

I hate to say it myself, but because I was born cute, I was popular with boys and they often confessed to me.

It was unpleasant for me.

Because the presence of my deceased older brother is now in my heart, I end up comparing them.

They say memories are always beautiful, but when I thought of my brother, I saw them as nothing but potatoes and I didn’t want to associate with anyone.

One day after gloomy days continued, my father brought a certain woman.

She called herself Kawabe and she’s dating my father. The two of them said that they want to remarry in the future.

I wanted my father to be happy, so I agreed nonetheless, but Kawabe san seems to have a boy who is the same age as me.

I had an unpleasant feeling about that fact.

All the boys except my brother looked like a hungry wolf, so I was given time to think, and my fathers agreed to it.

In the end, they decided not to remarry until my exams are over.

But that would mean that they would remarry if I finished my exams.

On top of that, comes the fact that I have to live together with a boy of my age. That fact kept worrying  me as I studied for the entrance exam.

I was accepted into the school from my first choice, and finally I was able to meet Kawabe’s mother and son.

We were having dinner at a slightly expensive restaurant, and I was nervous.

I had met Kawabe san often during exam period, but i haven’t met the person who would become my older brother. 

…..I wonder what kind of person he is.

The image of my deceased brother passes through my mind with a mix of fear and curiosity.

The depression reigns over me at the thought of having to call someone else my brother.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Kawabe san greeted us with a friendly expression. But I can’t see her son appearance.

“Sora chan, this is my son Riku. he’s a strange boy, but please get along with him….”

My step mother pulls her son behind her and pushes him in front of me.

I was surprised by his appearance.

He has a slender figure, but he looks unfashionable..or rather, his bangs covering his eyes. I could barely confirm that he was wearing glasses because of that hairstyle.

…Hm, wait a minute ! ! What did you say earlier? 

I try to remember my step mother’s words.

But before I could think back, the fuzzy boy (named by me) spoke up.

“N-nice to meet you. I’m Kawabe Riku. ….I hope we get along.”

I wonder if he is also nervous when he introduces himself.

….Ha〜 ! !

I am filled with anger for some reason.

That should be it.

It must’ve been because he had the same name.

The same as my beloved Onii chan…

I guess it would be cool to call it fate. But I don’t want to feel like I was destined to be with fuzzy boys, and it made me feel even more disgusted.

The dinner meeting ended without a problem. 

However, just before leaving, I heard another fact from my step mother.

“Because Riku goes to the same school as Sora chan, so please take care of him.”

….Huh, what did you just say?

There’s no way I’m going to the same high school with this fuzzy boy ! !

If both of us were in separate high schools, we wouldn’t interfere with each other, so why are we in the same high school ! ! 

I can’t go to another high school now that I’ve completed the high school admission procedures.

Inside the car after parting with Kawabe’s mother and son, I feel dissatisfied.

However, that person was unaware that my emotions had changed since that day.

A week before the high school entrance ceremony, Kawabe’s mother and son introduced themselves as Kaizei and moved into our house.

While my father and stepmother are working hard to clean up the house, I went to the fuzzy boy’s room.

“Unbelievable ! ! I can’t believe such a dull, gloomy person is going to be my older brother ! !”

I hit him with my feelings right in front of me.

Now that I think about it, I might have said something terrible to someone I just met.

On this day, I had no choice but to tell him so. To me, he is a stranger.

I will never call you my brother. Even if you had the same name as him……

I can’t measure his expression when he hears my words because of his hair. However, his shocked reaction made my heart ache a little.