Episode Twenty-Six
“…I’m home.”
The small words dropped into the dark hallway. Dad’s and Shiho-san’s voices reached me from the living room where light was leaking through.
I wanted to shut myself in my room right away, but not showing my face at all would probably seem strange too.
The living room, the stairs leading up to my room — only a few steps to either one, and yet both felt unreasonably far away. My legs had locked in place and wouldn’t move.
“Welcome home, Yuna-chan. Is something wrong?”
Standing frozen in the dark without even taking my shoes off, I looked up to find Shiho-san’s face peering out from the half-open door, watching me with a puzzled look as I failed to answer.
“Onee-chan’s tired. I’ll take her bag up.”
The person I love most. And yet the moment I saw her, my whole back went rigid.
Ao, still in the clothes I’d seen on her that evening, forcibly took my bag from me and went up the stairs without waiting.
Whatever voice she’d used toward Shiho-san had sounded like the usual Ao, I think. Whether I was just being oversensitive, or whether it was simply because a parent was present — I couldn’t tell.
“Sorry, I’m going to sleep early tonight. Goodnight.”
I gave Shiho-san a small bow and made my way toward my room, eyes down the whole way, footsteps slow.
Click.
The sound of the door closing reached me louder than usual.
I had no idea what expression Ao was wearing with her back still turned to me. Silence stretched through the room, filled only with the sound of our two breaths.
“Sit down.”
I gave a small nod to Ao, who murmured it with her back still to me, and sank down against the bed, letting it take my weight.
“Did you have fun today?”
Turning slowly to face me, Ao looked down and asked. There seemed to be no light at all in her eyes.
“Y— yeah.”
“I see.”
She continued, inching slowly closer.
“Where did you go? What did you do? What did you eat? What did you buy?”
“W— wait. Asking me all at once, I… I don’t know how to answer.”
My heartbeat was too loud. I tried to stand, but my fingertips had gone prickling and numb, and I couldn’t get my body up properly.
“You’re really cute today, Yuna.”
Not the innocent face she uses to tease me, not the serious one I’ve caught her wearing in class when she thought I wasn’t looking. An expression of Ao’s I’d never seen before — even in a moment like this, I felt myself nearly drawn in by it.
“I’m the same as always.”
“No. Completely different.”
“You’re always cute, but today feels… serious.”
Her gaze carried something like heat in it, and I felt my own face start to burn in response.
“Today was an apology day. For Fuuka.”
“An apology?”
“Y— yeah. I did something bad to her, so it was making up for it. And she wanted to practice for a date, for her future boyfriend.”
“Because she said something like that—”
I lifted my eyes carefully, and Ao’s face, which should have still been standing a moment ago, was right there. Close enough that our breath might touch. I caught my own breath without meaning to.
“…A— Ao?”
If I just had a little more courage, I could reach that mouth. I wanted to say it — the only one I love is Ao.
“If you’re this cute, Fuuka might end up falling for you. What would you do then?”
“…She wouldn’t. Fuuka’s not like that.”
“Yuna, you might think so, but Fuuka might not.”
That’s impossible. We’ve been together for so long, there’s no way a feeling like that would suddenly appear now. And besides — two girls together, that would be rude to even suggest about Fuuka.
“It’s not like that. That was just for fun.”
“Hmm.”
“Which hand were you holding?”
“Huh?”
Taking both my hands in hers, Ao wore that same innocent smile she always does. Same expression, and yet the air she was carrying felt like something else entirely.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t paying attention to something like that.”
“Then I’ll just have to hold both, to be safe.”
With that, both my hands, left and right, were caught and laced together with hers.
Close enough our bodies might touch, fingers entwined until there wasn’t a single gap left between them. This isn’t something sisters do.
The feelings I’d been holding down in my chest felt like they were spilling out faster and faster.
“…Stop. This is — this is dangerous.”
“What’s dangerous about it?”
“It’s really, genuinely not good.”
A gaze unlike any I’d seen before, a hot breath. Every part of Ao had become fuel for driving me out of my mind.
I’m Ao’s stepsister. Family. I need to remember Dad’s face, Shiho-san’s face. I can’t let that happy time get broken.
The only thing I’m allowed to break is my own feelings.
“Your face is so red. Haven’t seen that in a while.”
My attention kept getting pulled toward our laced fingers, and my head wouldn’t gather itself properly. Happy and hot and it felt good.
I’d stayed quiet the whole of Golden Week, and I’d thought I’d managed to get some of my feelings in order. But apparently that was only true on the surface — the ugly version of me hiding underneath had just been waiting, patiently, for this exact moment. A year’s worth of accumulated feeling was never going to be something I could simply hold back.
My own shallow breathing kept sounding too loud. Doesn’t Ao find this disgusting, watching me like this? An older sister lusting after her own younger sister isn’t something anyone could find pleasant to witness.
If I leaned my face in now, would Ao be upset. Or would the Ao in front of me right now accept it.
I want to try it. Whether things break or not doesn’t matter anymore. Because it’s already too late either way.
“Don’t go out with Fuuka again. If you want to go somewhere, I’ll go with you.”
“That’s…”
“And — don’t dress up cute except for when you’re out with me. Onee-chan, you’d probably follow some weird person home without even noticing.”
I don’t really understand what Ao’s saying. What is this feeling she’s directing at me, exactly?
“Well? Your answer?”
Whispered softly right by my ear, a hot breath escaped me before I could stop it.
I want to kiss her. I want to sink my teeth into that white skin. If she wants me this badly, then surely I’m allowed a little selfishness of my own too.
In the first place, why is Ao trying to bind me down like this—
“Nnh— ah!”
A soft breath against my ear, and all the strength drained out of my whole body.
“Whoa, Onee-chan, you’re kind of sexy.”
“My ears… really, stop—”
“So, your answer?”
Answer. What were we even talking about.
My head had gone past boiling and right to the edge of collapse, and even the twisted feeling underneath it all had stopped being visible to me.
My back, which had been resting against the bed, was slowly tipping over, just about to hit the hard floor, when a few knocks sounded against the door.
“Yuna, can I come in for a sec?”
Not my own hoarse voice, not Ao’s melted one. Dad’s familiar voice reached my ears, and the consciousness that had been about to slip away snapped fully back awake.
“D— don’t! Right now… Ao and I are stu— studying.”
“Studying? You only just got home though. Might be good to rest a bit first.”
Watching me scramble desperately to cover, Ao’s mouth curved into a smirk, and she blew against my ear again, again and again.
Soft, then sharp. The push and pull of it made my vision flicker.
I could muffle some of the sound if I covered my mouth. But both my hands were still caught in Ao’s, and I couldn’t pull them free.
“Pop quiz… it’s… clo— close…”
This is genuinely bad. I couldn’t even stop the thin line of drool threatening at the corner of my mouth. If Dad got suspicious of my unconvincing answer and came in, everything would be over.
“Hmm, well, fine. I’ll send you a message later, check it when you can. Goodnight, Ao-chan too.”
“Goodnight, sir. Sleep well.”
Watching Ao deliver that in her usual voice, mouth still curved with amusement, send her words through the door, a cold shiver ran down my spine.
I held my shallow breathing in until the sound of footsteps going down the stairs finally stopped. Once I confirmed there was no more sound from beyond the door, I shoved Ao’s body away from me as hard as I could.
“What… were you thinking?”
“If that had been seen, it would’ve been over.”
“Dad and Shiho-san would both be devastated.”
“That’s the worst.”
The words that slipped through gaps in my ragged breathing came out in a voice even I was surprised by — far stronger than I meant.
Ao said nothing, just kept opening and closing her mouth slightly, over and over, as though she were searching for words she’d lost.
“…Sorry. I didn’t mean… for it to go like that.”
The eyes that had carried so much heat a moment ago were now wide and unmistakably shaken. Backing away slowly, never once looking at me, Ao got to her feet on trembling legs.
“I’m going to… sleep now. Sorry. Really.”
I watched the door close without a sound, and let myself sink back against the bed once more.
What had we even been doing. We’d really been a hair’s breadth from the end of something. However generously I tried to view it, there was no excuse I could make for what that was — it wasn’t something a close pair of sisters does.
Both Ao and I had gotten swept up in some strange heat and lost ourselves completely. If we’d been the only two in the house…
I’ve been on the receiving end of Ao’s teasing plenty of times before. I’d told myself it was just me overreacting, that all of it fell within the bounds of close sisters. So I’d assumed she was doing it to help us grow closer.
But what just happened — what was that. Something like possessiveness, an emotion I’d never had directed at me before.
I wasn’t… scared. Honestly, I didn’t even hate it. But the fact that I didn’t stop her even with Dad right there in the house — that feels like something’s wrong with me.
“…Ao.”
The small word dissolved into the room, still carrying traces of her warmth.