#16: I’m Home — I Lie to My Stepsister ~I Decided to Take In My Non-Blood-Related Sister~

I left the café at five-thirty in the afternoon.

The rain had stopped, and patches of clear sky were visible in the distance. Tapping the asphalt with my closed umbrella, I made my second visit home that day.

I hadn’t returned even once in two years, yet somehow I had ended up coming here twice in a single day. If I had told myself a month ago,

“You’re going to set foot in the Sanjō household again.”

I probably would’ve spat in my own face. Maybe even punched myself.

No joke. That was how much I hated this place.

This time, I rang the buzzer from the first floor and entered after being let in. I wanted to keep the fact that I still had a key hidden in case something happened.

I stood in front of the door and rang the intercom.

I couldn’t breathe properly. My lungs tightened, and my throat trembled. I closed my eyes and clung to a single phrase.

‘Do your best.’

I slowly exhaled. The heat drained out of my entire body.

I felt awful, but at least I managed to calm down.

The door opened.

Two familiar faces appeared.

The moment my father saw me, he reached for my collar. Since I had expected that much, I caught his arm with my left hand.

Nice catch.

“Long time no see, Dad. You’ve gotten worse at handshakes.”

Rough skin, disheveled hair, stubble he had failed to shave cleanly.

He looked far older than he had two years ago, and it made me feel the cruelty of time.

I had always been afraid of this man.

My father was much stronger than me and earned more money than anyone else in the household. Someone like that could easily threaten my life.

But now that I was standing face-to-face with him again, I didn’t get that impression at all.

I had grown taller and put on muscle. Even the left hand holding his arm had enough grip strength to keep him from pulling away. My income wasn’t much, but I made enough to live without depending on anyone.

—Oh.

Is that all you are?

Once I thought that, the tension left my body and my field of vision widened.

I even had enough composure to smile.

I politely addressed the woman standing a little farther back.

“Mom, maybe you’ve gotten a little prettier. No idea why, though.”

I had even been kind enough to compliment her, yet for some reason her face twitched.

She looked as though she had seen a ghost.

How strange.

“Let me in. Your beloved son came all the way home. You must have plenty you want to talk about, right?”

I glanced to either side, drawing attention to the neighboring apartments.

Apparently, they still understood the concept of keeping up appearances, because they obediently let me inside.

The three of us sat around the living-room table.

Of its four sides, we occupied three, with each of us keeping as much distance from the others as possible.

It was rare to find an environment where everyone avoided everyone else so thoroughly.

Naturally, nobody made tea.

I placed my hands on the empty table, looked back and forth between the two of them, and opened my mouth.

“Questions?”

“Where did you take Yūha…?”

The woman answered first.

“She’s at my place. If you’re worried, you can come by later.”

Of course, I had moved, so she wasn’t actually at my old place anymore.

Just imagining them standing in confusion outside an empty apartment made my smile grow even gentler.

Bang!

The table shook.

The man sitting across from me had slammed down his fist.

“What are you trying to pull?”

“What do you mean? Didn’t you read the note? This was Yūha’s decision. She suddenly showed up at my place, and I’m the one who’s inconvenienced here. You know, teenage runaway stuff? Well, I figured her parents would be worried, so I wrote down my number and said I’d hear her out.”

Thanks to years of practice, lies came out of me as easily as breathing.

A sophistry machine requiring no lubrication.

“Don’t lie. You must have put ideas into her head.”

“What a nasty thing to accuse me of. I haven’t even told her yet that Dad’s mentally shattered to the point where he can’t function without alcohol and medication.”

I pulled my first trump card from my pocket.

A tablet still in its packaging, with the drug’s name printed on it.

One search had immediately told me what it was.

An antidepressant.

The man’s eyes widened and he froze.

The woman looked between us, unable to follow what was happening.

“Don’t worry. Kindhearted me came prepared so Mom could understand too.”

I pulled a printed sheet from the clear file folder and handed it to her.

It contained the medication’s name, effects, side effects, and other information.

“Based on when it was prescribed and how many pills were left, you’ve been taking five or six a day, right? That suggests an overdose—excessive consumption. You must be in a pretty bad state if that’s what it takes to keep yourself sane.”

The man ground his teeth and clenched his fists.

“I heard you two were fighting over which of you gets to take Yūha, but I wonder whether a court would really let a vulnerable young girl live with someone this mentally unstable. I don’t know much about the law at all, so I really couldn’t say. But you graduated college and have lived such a respectable life, right, smart old Dad? Surely you know.”

I tapped the table repeatedly with my index finger, pressing him for an answer.

I pushed his stress as far as I could.

Seeing me attack only the man up to this point apparently reassured the woman.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she uttered something straight out of a fantasy.

“I knew it. Rokurō is on his mother’s side.”

“Of course. You used to make my lunch every day in high school, Mom. Even if you are a piece of trash who destroyed not one but two families through adultery, I’m still on your side.”

So I answered her with my own fantasy logic.

She didn’t understand at first and blinked repeatedly.

Apparently, having the blade suddenly turned toward her had rattled her badly.

Nice expression.

This is getting exciting.

“What are you talking about, Rokurō? …Making up something ridiculous like that.”

“Made up, huh? Then go bring the box you’ve hidden among your underwear. Let’s talk after we see what’s inside. We can have a proper family meeting together. Actually, since we’re at it, should we call Yūha too?”

“—Eek.”

As I spoke, I played my second trump card.

Pinched between my fingertips and held up where both of them could see it was—

A pearl earring.

“Mom, you work part-time, right? Four days a week, running a register at that supermarket a little ways away. Judging from their hourly wage, you make a little over a hundred thousand yen a month. So, how much do you think these earrings cost? Apparently, eighty thousand yen. Now, how does someone who’s on the verge of divorce and probably isn’t even being given living expenses get something like this? The world sure is full of mysteries.”

The sweet scent filling her room.

The fact that, despite getting older and supposedly being under the stress of an impending divorce, she somehow looked prettier than before.

An unnaturally expensive gift.

I looked at both the man and the woman, then finally touched the heart of the matter.

The thing I had kept hidden all this time.

Something I hadn’t even told Nene Komaki.

The biggest reason I couldn’t bring myself to tell Yūha how twisted this family really was.

“You two were scumbags who got married because of an affair in the first place. Don’t you think it’s a little greedy to expect happiness now? Huh? Trash should live like trash, crawling around in the filth at the edge of society. Don’t touch Yūha. Don’t show that girl anything filthy. Subhuman garbage like you doesn’t get to call yourselves her parents!”

I slammed my fist into the table with all my strength.

The skin on my hand split, and blood ran down, dripping onto the floor.

To me, this man was my third father.

The first was the one related to me by blood.

The second was the man who adopted and raised me.

And the third—

Was this man, whom my mother had an affair with and with whom she conceived Yūha.

That girl had done nothing wrong.

But the circumstances of her birth were buried in far too much darkness.

More than anything else, that was what I could never forgive.

I stood and looked down at them.

There was no longer any reason to hide my contempt.

“I’ll give you two a choice. Either I tell Yūha everything I’ve exposed here today and send her back to this house, or I keep quiet about you two, and Yūha doesn’t come back. If you choose the second option, you’ll transfer a hundred thousand yen into my account every month. That’s only natural, right? After all, you’re her ‘biological parents.’”

““…………””

The two idiots sat there in idiotic silence.

They stared down at the table like elementary school kids being scolded by a teacher.

Was there something interesting written on it?

When three minutes passed without either saying anything, I let out an exaggerated sigh.

“Oh, okay. Then never mind. I’ll tell Yūha. I’ll tell her, ‘You’re not even worth paying money for.’ That’s fine with you, right?”

“I’ll pay…”

“Hm?”

“I said I’ll pay. A hundred thousand a month. Are you satisfied now?”

“Can’t hear you.”

“You…”

“Know your place. Society’s all about hierarchy, isn’t it?”

That finally seemed to push him past his limit.

I could practically hear something snap.

The man stood and reached both hands toward my throat.

The woman screamed.

Thud.

A dull sound rang out.

“Figure it out already. …You can’t beat me anymore. Violence only works as a method of control for a limited time.”

I wasn’t the one pinned against the wall by the collar.

It was the man who had attacked me.

“The third time, I’ll hit back.”

“…Let go…………”

I obeyed his instruction and released him like a piece of garbage.

“Well, whatever. Looks like you got the message. Here’s my bank information. Pay next month’s amount by the end of each month.”

I handed the note to the woman, who remained seated without moving, then gave her another smile.

“Well then, I’ll come by again if anything happens.”

Neither of them made a sound until I left the apartment.

The elevator mirror reflected a man wearing a grim expression.

The blood on my right hand had dried, but it still looked pretty gruesome.

Can’t let Yūha see me like this.

“…Fuck.”

I let out a heavy sigh.

There was no way I could laugh.

When I stepped outside the apartment building, rain struck my face.

Only then did I remember.

“Oh. Forgot my umbrella.”

Obviously, I didn’t have the energy to go back for it.

My feet wobbled.

Maybe because things had finally settled down, my whole body suddenly felt unbearably heavy.

Rain poured over me, and I wanted to stop walking altogether.

Part of me even wanted to collapse right there in the road and simply die.

The more I remembered what I had done, the more disgusted I became with myself.

Was there really any value in someone like me, who could only survive by doing things this way?

“No. My head’s in a bad place.”

It had been a long time since I had felt this much pain.

But it wasn’t something I had never experienced before.

If I calmed down, there were still plenty of reasons to live.

Someone else could decide what I was worth if they wanted.

But I really didn’t think I could keep pushing myself any longer.

I wanted to see Yūha.

Holding onto that single thought, I kept walking through the rain.

When I opened the front door, a gentle smell of eggs reached me.

Then came the rich, savory aroma of hashed beef rice.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t eaten anything decent since morning.

Apparently, my appetite hadn’t been functioning because I had been so tense.

I took off my shoes and stepped inside.

The living-room door opened.

The backlight made it hard to see, but it was definitely Yūha.

Keiji and Nako-san’s shoes were already gone.

“Welcome home.”

“I’m home.”

“I made dinner. Do you want some? It’s omelet rice, your favorite, Rokurō. The shape didn’t turn out very pretty, but, um, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to eat it anyway, or rather— Wait. You’re soaking wet!”

“You sure are energetic.”

She had been mumbling away, only to suddenly raise her voice.

It was so funny that laughter escaped from deep in my throat.

“You really are hilarious.”

“H-Hey, don’t laugh!”

“My umbrella went off on a little journey. So I came home empty-handed.”

“Stop saying things that make no sense. Seriously, Rokurō, you’re always lying. …Here, the bath is ready. Dry yourself off first.”

She hurried away and tossed me a towel from the washroom.

I caught it and found myself staring at it.

The white cloth in my hands felt strangely warm.

There were probably a lot of things I needed to say.

I would have to explain to Yūha what had happened eventually.