Chapter 2: Prologue
I can confidently state the following because I have experienced this myself: A younger step-sister is nothing but a stranger.
For an adolescent boy in his second year in high school, this is undoubtedly the greatest misfortune, and for a single family, the greatest blessing. Look at the non-blood related siblings in manga, light novels, and games, for example. With that as an excuse, the sister becomes the target heroine of the protagonist, and they end up in a relationship. If you were to take this logic for gold, then you'll definitely go through a lot of pain and suffering, and at the very end, you only get told to 'Protect your little sister', receiving a protagonist-like role.
Reality is always different. If you were to ask what exactly the difference from this imaginary step-sister to a real one is, then let me give you an example. Envision me coming home from my part-time job at a certain bookstore, running into my step-sister sitting on the living room sofa sipping on some hot chocolate. Our conversation would unfold as such…
"Welcome back, Asamura-kun."
"I'm home, Ayase-san."
That was it. Do you understand it now? There's no sweet and adorable 'Onii-chan~' to hear, nor any cold and salty 'Huh? Can you not talk to me, you shitty big bro?'. It's an exchange as flat as this earth, absolutely barebones with a greeting and nothing more. Both of us just live in reality, not going too far in, not moving away too much.
There's no heart-throbbing, flirting, excessive stimulus or respect, none of that sort between me and my step-sister. After living a solid 17 years apart, suddenly being told that you'll be a family starting tomorrow, there's really no special emotion or feelings to be held. If anything, the level of familiarity of two people having coincidentally been classmates for two years is probably higher than ours.
My name is Asamura Yuuta. I'm your average 17-year old, a second-year in high school. If one asked me why I would get a step-sister at such an age, then it's simply because my old man is too 'lively' for his own good. I can only respect him from the bottom of my heart to get married again at his solid age.
The moment I gained consciousness and thinking as a child, I experienced my parents fighting practically all day, so when I heard my old man saying he wanted to get a divorce, I could only nod to that. That idiot even apologized to me, saying it was his inability, even though I very well knew that my mother was cheating on him. Ever since then, I lived my days harboring no great expectations from the girls I dealt with.
The news hit me when I just grabbed my keys for my bike, putting on my sneakers at the entrance.
"Your father decided to get married again."
"Huh?"
"The other person is a very tolerable and charming Onee-san, so you're good with that, right?"
"Can't really tell what kind of person she is with those modifiers you're telling me."
"From the top it's 92, 61, 90."
"I wasn't telling you to use math instead…Think about how I feel, hearing about my supposed new mother's three sizes before I even get to see her."
"You must be happy to get such a stylish mother, right?"
"Not really, no."
"No way…! Not being won over by me playing at your desires…are you really an adolescent boy? I thought something was off, actually…"
"Hey now. That sure is some awful impression you have towards your own son."
It seems like people tend to get the weird idea when I say I don't have any special expectations towards girls, but I can still get excited at the sight of them, and when I spot a girl in her swimsuit at the pool, I get turned on. Just, even if you tell me like that, I can't exactly feel any passion towards the person who might soon become my new mother, the new lover of my old man, alright?
"Still, how did you even meet her, you're a solid 40 right now. At your workplace or something?"
"She works at a store I got dragged to by my superior. Seeing me broken and collapsed, she took great care of me, see."
"Aren't you just being deceived then…"
I don't really want to throw out stereotypes like 'All people of the night are bad', but when my old man, who already went through some awful stuff because of a woman, tells me about this, then I can't exactly be hopeful.
"It's fine~ Akiko-san isn't like that. Ahahaha!" He said a phrase only someone being deceived would spit out so confidently, to which I could only return a sigh.
However, that was as far as I would go.
"If you're happy, then so am I. I'll just keep doing my thing."
That's what it means to not have any expectations. Since I don't have any high hopes for this new life with a new mother, even if I get deceived, end up in misfortune, there's no real sadness or pain.
"No, that won't quite work out this time. You'll get a little sister after all."
"Huh? Little sister?"
"Yup. She's Akiko-san's daughter. She showed me a picture, but she really is a cutie."
It seems like both my old man and that woman are going to remarry with this one. I guess that was one of the reasons they were attracted to each other.
"Here, look. Cute, right?"
"Well…I guess."
He energetically took out his smartphone, showing me a picture. There, I could see a girl that was probably in grade school right now. Looked like she had a translated book from overseas on her lap, probably aimed at children her age. Apparently she wasn't too comfortable with taking pictures, as she looked slightly flustered.
"Congrats. With this, you're an Onii-chan!"
"I don't know what you want from me, giving me a thumbs-up like that…Well, she definitely is cute, so it doesn't feel that bad."
Having a girl around my age as a little sister would have been a bit bothersome to deal with, but if she's at that age, then things should be fine. And no, I'm not a lolicon. I'm just relieved that I don't really have to be too considerate towards her since she's that far apart from me in age. I do think she's cute, but again, no lolicon.
"And, we'll be having a meeting today at 9pm. Can you come meet us after work?"
"That sure is abrupt…"
"Well…I wanted to tell you, but I never really got a chance, so it's been a month already, and…here we are."
"There's gotta be a limit on how much you can postpone it!"
"I have no excuses, haha…"
That's the kind of old man he is. Not reliable at all, and yet gullible enough to blindly trust people. How can I not be worried?
"I get it, I'll be there. Best be thankful that I'm not some delinquent who stays out all night."
"I was never worried about that. I have full trust in you after all."
Seriously, how can you trust others that easily.
A new mother, a new little sister, a new family. These words filled my head, as I spent my time doing my work at my part-time job, while being instructed by my (beauty of a) senior. According to Devora Zack1, multitasking is the pinnacle of stupidity, and only by focussing on one thing, you achieve results. This being the case, I focussed solely on my first contact with my supposed new little sister, which is why I messed up a few times at work, getting scolded by my senior in the process. Even though she recommended the book to me in the first place.
That being the case, when my shift ended, she still tapped me on the shoulder with an energetic 'Go get 'em, Onii-chan!', making me realize that she was a kind person deep down.
Night arrived at Shibuya. It took a few minutes to reach Dougenzaka by bike from my part-time work, and I finally made it to the family restaurant my old man was talking about. During these times, the area would always be awfully crowded, and several groups of women stood in front of the establishment already. Judging from their words, they seemed to be complaining about the boyfriends they were currently going out with.
His clothes are lame, he doesn't know how to treat a woman—one woman said, her body tanned while wearing flashy clothes, her hair in avant-garde fashion. Um, Lady? You look just as lame if you'd ask me, or how about telling your boyfriend face-to-face instead?
Then again, telling her that would do neither of us any good, so I just slipped past her, and checked my old man's LINE message to search for the seat. I'd rather not get in too close contact with a flashy type of person like that, not to mention their high expectations towards other people. From here on out, I'll be meeting my grade school little sister. Again, not a lolicon though. I'm just going to make sure that she doesn't grow up to be like that.
"Hey, Yuuta! Over here."
My old man most likely saw me look around the inside of the establishment, as he called out to me with his hand up. Feeling awkward since now half of the other customers were looking over at me, I quickly made my way to the table.
—The root of this discomfort plaguing me had already been planted there.
The more I walked forwards, the larger it grew, and by the time I stood at the seat in front of my old man to properly see the faces of my new family, this root had grown exponentially, blooming into a beautiful flower shortly after. Excuse me, but what the hell is going on here?
"Nice to meet you~ So you're Yuuta-kun. I'm sorry to call you here right after your part-time work."
"N-No, it's fine. I'm Asamura Yuuta. So you are my father's…"
"Yes, my name is Ayase Akiko. Fufu, I heard a lot about you from Taichi-san, but you really seem dependable."
The woman—who named herself Ayase Akiko—called out to the bewildered me, and showed a gentle smile as she mentioned my old man. From her expression and gaze, I felt the charm of an adult. She was basically just like my old man had described her. At first I thought she was the type of person to loiter around in the city at night. But, Akiko-san didn't feel that way.
However, that's not important right now. The reason I was stuttering over my own words, the person who stole my gaze and attention, sat next to Akiko-san. I can see a resemblance to the person in the picture, really. She is probably the girl who will become my new little sister. That being the case, she looked astonishingly different from how I envisioned her.
"Come on, introduce yourself~"
"Okay."
Urged by her mother, the girl, who had a high stature, long and almost sparkling blonde hair, with a silver piercing shining in her ear, showed me an odd smile.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Ayase Saki."
"Eh, ah, yeah. Asamura Yuuta here."
She gave a polite greeting, slightly lowering her head towards me.
—What the hell am I looking at here?
I can definitely see the resemblance. If someone told me that this is the same grade school girl I saw in that picture, I'd agree. However, only if one added that this is what she looked like ten years after said picture. Utterly flabbergasted, I looked at the Ayase Saki in front of me. A grade school girl? My ass, she's a woman.
She had her hair styled in a fashionable way, but the color in itself was quite flashy, with accessories on her wrist and around her neck, piercings on her ears. Her clothes weren't exactly licentious, but it was enough to openly show one shoulder. Because of the light inside the establishment, it was hard to tell, but I figured her make-up was probably on point as well.
In short, she looked like a stylish girl, a member of the extroverted world I thought I would never be involved with. Yet, the way she acted and greeted me made her seem like an adult with a proper amount of common sense, which only heightened this sense of discomfort plaguing me. For now, I decided to sit down next to my old man, and question him about this.
"Hey, this isn't what I heard about, you know?"
"I mean, this is the first time I'm meeting her as well…I had no idea. Only had the picture to work with."
"No matter how you look at it, she's definitely my age."
"She very much is. She's 17 this year, a second-year in high school."
"And you called her my little sister?"
"Your birthday is a week before her's."
"A week…"
Just one week? What does that matter, we're the same age. In my head, I could see the image of a cute little sister, which I didn't have to be considerate around, shatter into a thousand pieces.
"I'm sorry that it had to be this confusing. Saki just wouldn't let me take any pictures of her now that she's grown, so I only had an old picture~" Having guessed or most likely heard my conversation with my old man, Akiko-san put one hand on her cheek, and glanced at her daughter.
Since I'm not the greatest fan about having pictures of me taken, I can totally get behind that. What I don't understand however is Akiko-san. Why would she show my old man a picture of her daughter when she was in grade school?
"I'm often told that I have a sharp gaze, so taking pictures is a bit uncomfortable."
"H-Huh, is that so."
Saki—Ayase-san showed a troubled smile, but to me, she looked like a beauty appraised by everybody in this world. It'd make sense if it was me, who's a bastard so normal you could find me anywhere, but I don't really see a reason why she would avoid having pictures taken. That being said, that was just my own personal opinion, so I kept quiet about that. Wouldn't want to force myself onto her.
"But, I'm relieved." Ayase-san put one hand on her chest.
"About what?" I asked back.
"I was a bit worried that you might turn out to be a scary person."
"Hmm, who knows? I feel like the really scary people put on a gentle face."
"I heard a lot from Taichi-san just now. You're working part-time to earn money for the university school expenses, right? I figured you'd be a diligent person."
"Not even ten minutes ago, I got scolded by my senior at work for messing up again though."
"What about you having excellent grades?"
"There's a lot of clever criminals out there."
"Ahaha." Ayase-san covered her mouth with her fingers, and let out a giggle.
Our parents watched over this short conversation, and showed relieved smiles themselves. It seems as if the first contact with my future step-sister worked out just fine. The simulation I went through was quite a lot different from reality, but I think I did great considering the circumstances. With this, we should be able to get along just fine.
We spent until roughly 10pm talking about various things and future plans, and then decided to disband since the next day would have to begin early. My old man and Akiko-san wanted to quickly finish a round to the toilet, so Ayase-san and I left the restaurant early, waiting for them.
Even this late into the night, Dougenzaka never sleeps. Looking at the drunk men and women raising loud voices around us, I took a swift glance at the 'little sister' standing next to me. Because of her flashy outer appearance, she greatly resembled the people walking through Shibuya this very moment. She's a 'woman' I would normally never get into contact with. But, judging from the conversation we had in the family restaurant, she seems to be much more clever than she previously shows.
Outer appearances are still only outer appearances. They don't have anything to do with personality and etiquette. It'd be great if I could put it into simple words like that. However, that's not the only reason I feel so comfortable around her. It's something hard to explain—
"Hey, Asamura-kun, there's something I'd like to talk about before our parents are back."
"Something you can't tell them?"
"Correct. Then again, it's something I can only tell you."
"I managed to build up this much trust after that short of a conversation? Am I actually that amazing?"
"From your humor, way of speaking, expressions, I feel no strong emotions. That's why, I think you'll understand what I'm trying to say."
"Ahhh…"
That makes sense. Basically, she's the same type as me. That's why I felt like something was off. Thinking back on it, the words she told me that moment probably led to this decisive definition of our brother-sister relationship.
"I won't have any great expectations from you, so I want you to do the same for me."
You should be able to understand the meaning of that, right? — She added. Her eyes were fixated on mine, as she waited for my response. Of course, my answer had already been decided. To any other person, this might have sounded like a cold rejection, but to me, it showed the type of stance in a person I appreciate the most.
"This is probably a first for me." I said with a smile.
"Yup, same here."
"Then, let's keep going with that stance, Ayase-san."
"Thank you, Asamura-kun."
Thus, my relationship with my new younger step-sister began.
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1 Wrote a book in 2015, called 'Singletasking: Get More Done – One Thing at a Time'