#35: A Scumbag And A Brat — I Lie to My Stepsister ~I Decided to Take In My Non-Blood-Related Sister~ (WN)

Rokurō and Misuzu’s relationship had begun two years earlier, in May.

During Rokurō’s first month living in Onahebi Village after graduating from high school, he had devoted his entire life to work. Since rural areas were perpetually short-handed, there was always someone in need if he went even a little farther afield. While cleaning the guesthouse and handling reception duties, he also took on a mountain of other jobs.

Every day, he left the house early in the morning and returned late at night.

To Misuzu, Rokurō had been nothing more than “the busy freeloader staying at the house.”

At the time, Misuzu herself had been even busier than she was now. She was a third-year high school student preparing for entrance exams, and on top of that, she was running around working on revitalizing the village. She would be leaving the village to live on her own the following year, so she desperately wanted to produce some results before then. In that sense, she had been feeling impatient as well.

The “Student Town Revitalization Team,” which she had founded in her second year of middle school, consisted of the village children with Misuzu at its center. Over five years, they had gradually thought up ways to revitalize the village.

They had promoted the village online and even rewritten local legends recorded in difficult archaic language into modern wording. Their activities had received a certain amount of attention, and they had occasionally even been featured in newspapers.

Little by little, tourists who had heard about their efforts began visiting the village.

—If we’re ever going to make this take off, now is the time.

Misuzu believed that two years ago had been the perfect moment to turn the slowly growing momentum into something explosive.

“Let’s make the Snake Husk Festival a huge event. We’ll turn it into the centerpiece of the village’s tourism.”

She had begun proposing the idea to the adults as soon as the previous year’s festival ended.

The Snake Husk Festival was a small summer festival with only a handful of food stalls. It was fun enough for the local children, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy visitors from outside the village.

Apparently, everyone had felt the same way, and the discussion had turned to, “Then next year, why don’t we add more stalls and maybe even set off some fireworks?”

As the festival approached, Misuzu and the others threw themselves into their activities even more enthusiastically than before. They created pamphlets, made promotional videos, and advertised on social media every day.

The love story appealed to younger audiences. The first time one of their posts went viral, they had all gathered around the computer screen with pounding hearts.

But all of it—

—collapsed in mid-April.

“The festival will be held the same way as every year.”

Those words were delivered unilaterally by the adults who managed the village, and with that, all the effort the children had put in was swept away with ease.

Misuzu got angry.

The other children got angry too.

But nothing changed.

“I hate adults!”

It had always been like this. Adults were stubborn creatures who refused to bend and casually rejected whatever children had to say.

Her father and mother had been the same. They were always busy with work and had broken nearly every promise they made to Misuzu. It didn’t matter how much she had looked forward to something or how many days in advance she had prepared. All it took was for them to say, “Sorry, something came up at work,” on the morning of the day itself, and everything fell apart. She had never been able to forgive that.

That was why she now lived here in the countryside with her grandmother.

For the first time in years, her anger toward adults flared up again—

—and that was when Sanjō Rokurō finally came into focus for her.

He had apparently come to the village because of some personal circumstances, and his eyes looked devoid of emotion.

According to the rumors she had heard, he had attended a fairly prestigious college-preparatory high school and had ranked near the top of his class. Yet he had not gone on to university and was instead here in this village.

It was easy to assume that adults had crushed his dreams.

Misuzu felt a sense of kinship with Rokurō, which was why she approached him.

If he was as smart as people said, what kind of opinion would he have?

With that thought in mind, she waited for him to return home and spoke to him after dinner.

His answer, in short, was,

“So your childish tantrum got rejected, and now you’re pissed off?”

With a thoroughly uninterested expression, Rokurō yawned.

“I’m going to bed.”

That was all he said before returning to his room.

Misuzu had simply stared after him in shock. His reaction had been completely different from anything she had imagined, and she could not hide her surprise.

Even after Rokurō went back to his room, she remained frozen in the living room for a while before finally processing what he had said.

—A childish tantrum!?

Her face turned bright red, her fists trembled, and she glared at the table with the expression of a wrathful demon.

Her anger toward Sanjō Rokurō rivaled what she felt toward the adults of the village.

No—

At that very moment, she was probably angrier at Sanjō Rokurō than anyone else in the entire human race.

With tears in her eyes, Misuzu made a vow in her heart.

She would absolutely drag that man into this and make him one of them.

From that day onward, Misuzu began pestering Rokurō relentlessly.

She started waking up earlier so she could make time to talk to him before he left the house. She waited for him to come home and ate dinner with him.

“Why are you changing your entire routine to match someone you hate?”

“Because I hate you!”

“That doesn’t answer the question…”

“Oh, right. Rokurō is kind of a long name, so can I call you Roku-kun?”

“It’s the same length.”

Either way, it was four syllables, and four syllables wasn’t particularly long.

As Rokurō thought that, Misuzu pouted.

“It’s about the feeling. An idiot like you wouldn’t understand.”

“You’re calling people idiots when you’re just a damn brat? That’s why you’re always going to be a kid.”

“That’s what I’m asking! Why am I suddenly a damn brat!?”

“The fact that you don’t understand is exactly why you’re a damn brat!”

“Grrrrr…!”

“What a pain.”

They glared fiercely at one another, then both looked away.

“Hmph! Until next time!”

“Why is there going to be a next time? That makes no sense.”

Rokurō was bewildered by Misuzu, who kept coming back to talk to him again and again despite fighting with him every single time they met.

He couldn’t figure out what she really wanted.

It was scary.

Way too scary.

By the time a week had passed, even Rokurō’s nerves were beginning to fray, and he let out a deep sigh.

“What is it? Do you want me to apologize? If so, just say that.”

“No. I don’t need an apology.”

And by then, Misuzu had also come to understand why she kept picking fights with him.

“When you called it a childish tantrum, at first I thought, ‘Don’t screw with me.’ But if that was all I felt, I could’ve just brushed it off. The reason I couldn’t is because what you said hit the mark.”

“Huh?”

Rokurō stared at her blankly, looking as though he genuinely had no idea what she meant.

Misuzu didn’t care.

“Somewhere inside, I thought, ‘Maybe he’s right.’ But I don’t understand why it’s selfish. So teach me. Please, join us.”

“…………Huh?”

“Join us.”

“No.”

“Join us.”

“No.”

“Join.”

“No.”

“Jo—”