Stepsister, Ex-Girlfriend, Who?

June came to an end, and at last the calendar placed the number 7 at the top.

The season was summer. Students squeezed out the last of their energy as they looked toward the long vacation ahead.

At academically competitive schools, third-year students began seriously narrowing down their university choices around this time.

It was the season when they settled on at least three options: the “first choice” they truly wanted to attend, the “second choice” they could realistically get into based on their abilities, and the “third choice” they could compromise on if the worst came to pass.

In August, they would devote themselves to supplementary classes at school and summer courses at cram school, pushing themselves to their absolute limits.

Amid all that, Yūha was trying to move in a different direction from the students around her.

“You want to get a part-time job…?”

In one corner of the career guidance room, Yūha sat across from Kumagai-sensei in a small area furnished with sofas.

Besides helping her with English, he had also been keeping an eye on her school life and how things were going at home. Hearing that he was both a student-guidance teacher and the advisor of the kendo club made him sound like a hard-liner, but once you actually talked to him, he was surprisingly flexible.

On top of that, he was a meddlesome sort.

Perhaps because students rarely relied on him under normal circumstances, whenever someone did ask for his help, he took care of them to an almost excessive degree.

That was why, even at a college-prep school where part-time jobs were forbidden in principle, he did not immediately reject Yūha when she—despite barely meeting the required attendance threshold—said, “I want to get a part-time job.”

Any other teacher would probably have turned red in the face by now and shouted, “Do you even understand your situation?!”

But Kumagai-sensei understood the circumstances the two siblings were in.

“I can speak to the other teachers and get permission granted… but you understand that doing only that could cause resentment, right?”

“Yes.”

Yūha nodded. Taking that seriously, Kumagai-sensei continued.

“What you need to convince adults isn’t enthusiasm, but results. Don’t cause disciplinary problems, and don’t neglect your studies. Earn their trust on those two points.”

“Understood.”

“Make the teachers see you as a serious student. And don’t fail any subjects on next week’s final exams. If you accomplish those two things, I’ll submit a request so you can get permission starting from summer vacation.”

“Thank you very much.”

Yūha bowed her head vigorously.

If she could work too, their lives should become much easier than they were now.

At the very least, enough that they could turn on the air conditioner without hesitating.

“By the way, um…”

The girl raised her head and asked,

“Kumagai-sensei, do you know what Rokurō was doing during those two years?”

“By two years, you mean after he graduated?”

“Yes. I don’t think I’ll ever get it out of him directly.”

Kumagai-sensei let out a thoughtful hum and leaned back deeply into the sofa.

“I don’t know the details either, but it’s not as though I know nothing. Still, if Sanjō himself is keeping it hidden…”

“I don’t think he’s exactly hiding it. I mean, I think there are things he does hide, but… I think Rokurō simply dislikes talking about himself.”

That was what Yūha had come to think after spending so much time with him.

Some of that man’s secrets were things he deliberately kept for Yūha’s sake, while others seemed almost unconscious.

Anything involving their family felt like the former, while things concerning his work felt more like the latter.

“Now that you mention it, he certainly does have that habit.”

Even when dealing with a teacher, Rokurō never revealed his hand easily.

If necessary, he would lie without hesitation.

That was the kind of man Rokurō was.

And surely, it had been a skill he needed in order to survive.

But skills affected other areas as well.

Because Rokurō had so many things to hide, he had naturally begun hiding other things too, afraid that if even one piece came loose, the lies he had built up would collapse with it.

“For the first six months or so, Sanjō should have been doing some kind of live-in job. He told me he didn’t even have the money to rent a place at the time. I don’t know what the job itself was.”

“A live-in job… I see. Then I’ll try fishing for information from him myself.”

Yūha smiled faintly and pulled a postcard from her pocket.

The recipient was listed as “Rokurō Sanjō,” and the sender as “Misuzu Kagari.”

Several photographs had been printed on the back, and every one of them featured a beautiful woman.

She was probably Misuzu Kagari.

Alongside them, written in elegant handwriting, were the words:

“Will you be able to come visit this year? I want to see you, Roku-kun.”

“I happened to check the mailbox this morning and found it. Rokurō never seemed to have any women in his life, so it’s strange, isn’t it?”

“R-Right…”

Kumagai-sensei could say nothing and merely swallowed.

He had practiced kendo since his student days, but he had never faced an opponent with this much pressure before.

Yūha’s smile was faint.

Her expression resembled the one Rokurō wore when cornering his prey, intimidating anyone who saw it whether they wanted to be or not.

“I think he needs to explain properly who this woman is. At least about this, he shouldn’t lie to me, right?”

As his student giggled softly, the large man felt goosebumps rise across his skin.

“Ugh… What was that?”

I shuddered as an instinctive sense of danger washed over me, like some enormous creature had set its sights on me.

I hurriedly looked around, but there was nothing unusual.

I was just in a café in front of the station.

Although, in a sense, me being in a café at all was unusual…

Maybe coming somewhere unfamiliar had made me strangely tense.

Even thinking about the person I was about to meet made my stomach feel unsettled.

It was entirely possible stress had scrambled my senses.

I took a sip of coffee and tried to calm myself down.

It didn’t work.

I was caught between the stomachache that had persisted for two days and the chills I had been feeling for the past few minutes.

Living was hard.

I had thought I would never see this person again.

She had contacted me through Keiji.

When I graduated from high school, I had lost her contact information.

Her—yes, her.

That turned into a stupid bit of wordplay, but the person who was about to arrive was my former girlfriend.

Nene Komaki herself.