Just this afternoon, Mikoto finally realized sothing—Itsuka Shido was a man with a complicated past.
Shido wasn't originally a child of the Itsuka family; he was an adopted son. Simply put, if Mana was truly Shido's blood related sister, then Shido's real last na should be Takamiya.
However, the biggest problem was his unclear mories. Aside from the things that happened right before the Itsuka family adopted him, his mory of the great Tengu City fire from five years ago was also blurry. In short, a portion of his mories was missing.
"Shido has it tough too," Mikoto said softly.
After a quiet conversation, Mikoto had more or less figured out the whole story.
"It's fine, I'm already used to it."
Shido scratched his cheek. He was still very young when he was taken in by the Itsuka family, so having blurry mories was understandable. As for the Tengu City fire... even though he rembered it being a terrible disaster, at least both he and Kotori were safe. Up until today, his missing mories hadn't caused him any real trouble.
However...
[A little sister?]
Looking at Mana walking behind him, for the very first ti, Shido felt anxious about his lost mories.
"Still, I really do admire you, Nii-sama."
"Eh?"
Shido found Mana's sudden sigh of admiration completely baffling.
"I'll just ask directly. Mikoto-san, are you Nii-sama's girlfriend?"
Mana jogged up between the two of them, looked right at Mikoto, and asked.
"Y-Yakumo-senpai is just a normal senpai! A normal senpai!" Shido blushed and quickly answered for her.
[...]
Even though she expected this answer, hearing Shido say it out loud still made Mikoto feel her mood drop a little.
"Yep! I am just a normal senpai who has gone on dates with Shido, kissed him, and is currently on her way to cook dinner for him."
To make up for her slight disappointnt, she smiled brightly and gave Mana that exact answer.
As a result, Shido almost tripped and fell flat on completely level ground.
"Dates... kissing... and you're even cooking for Nii-sama. Isn't that... a w-w-w-wife!?" Mana gasped in shock.
"T-That's not it at all!"
Seeing that Mana had completely misunderstood, Shido panicked.
"Even though this and that happened, Nii-sama still won't admit it! This playboy personality absolutely must be corrected! Corrected, I say!"
"Please! Yakumo-senpai, explain it to her!"
Shido frantically begged Mikoto for help. However, the girl just turned her head, pretending to admire the scenery by the road, completely ignoring Shido in his mont of crisis.
[What happened to not selling out for the atballs? Is the friendship between boys really just a lie?](TL:yes)
Shido, who had to desperately deal with Mana's endless interrogation the entire walk, scread inside his heart.
"I'm ho."
"Welco back, Onii-chan. Huh? Who is this?"
As they returned to the house, Kotori(White ribbon), who was sitting in the living room, stood up.
"Ooh! So this is Nii-sama's house! Nice to et you, I am Takamiya Mana, Nii-sama's little sister!"
"Little... sister..."
Drop.
The Chupa Chups fell from Kotori's mouth. After standing frozen like a stone statue for a few seconds, without saying a single word, she took out her white ribbons and swapped them for her black ones.
"Anyway, let's sit down first. And then... what exactly is going on here, Onii-chan?"
Even though she was sweetly calling him "Onii-chan," for so reason, she bit down hard on every syllable, and her voice was filled with terrifying pressure.
[It's exactly like a little animal called a 'little sister' finding out that another 'little sister' has stepped into her territory.] Mikoto thought, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Looking at Kotori, who completely seed like a cat with its fur standing on end, Mikoto sighed in pity for Shido's upcoming hardships, then turned and went to the kitchen to prep the groceries.
Because the living room and kitchen in the Itsuka house were connected, she could easily hear their conversation.
The main topic revolved around Shido and Mana's past. The most concerning part was that Mana also seed to have lost her mories; she couldn't rember anything from before two or three years ago. Her only clue was a pendant she carried, which held a photo of Shido and Mana together.
"Wait, the Shido in this photo looks about ten years old. But at that ti, wasn't Shido already living in our house?" Kotori asked.
"Now that you ntion it, yeah." Shido nodded.
Even though there were conflicting details, they couldn't deny that Mana really could be Shido's little sister.
[No matter how you look at it, they look way too similar..] Mikoto thought.
They had the exact sa hair color and sowhat androgynous features. If Mana just let her ponytail down and hid her beauty mark, she would look exactly like a middle-school version of Shiori-chan.
In the end, the conversation about their past and family background wrapped up without finding any real answers. The topic then shifted to the present.
"I'm really happy just knowing that Nii-sama is living well. And he even has such a cute step-sister," Mana said.
"W-What, saying sothing like that so suddenly."
Faced with the girl's completely friendly attitude, Kotori looked a bit embarrassed and turned her head away.
"But still, in the end, you can't beat a blood related sister."
However, the exact mont Mana said that next sentence... Snap. Mikoto and Shido clearly felt sothing tightly wound just break.
"Oh... is that so?"
Along with Kotori's questioning tone, a war between the "real sister" and the "step sister" began.
[Being too popular really is tough...]
Watching Kotori and Mana argue, and Shido desperately trying to intervene but unable to get a word in, Mikoto couldn't help but smile wryly.
"Shut up!!! So what if you share blood? A blood related sister can't marry him!"(TL:holy..)
[!!!]
At the climax of the argunt, Kotori suddenly dropped that bombshell. Mikoto's hand twitched, and her finger was cut by a sharp crab shell.
Looking up to see a heavily blushing Kotori and the completely shocked faces of Shido and Mana, Mikoto silently confird that the "Itsuka Harem" was much larger than she had originally thought.
"Anyway! Blood related sister or step sister, which side does Shido choose!?"
"That's right! Is Nii-sama on the blood related sister side or the step sister side!?"(TL:give both..)
[This can't go on.] Mikoto thought, watching Shido get backed into a dead end by the "Sister battlefield."
"Ouch!!!"
A tiny bead of blood ford on her pale finger from the crab shell spike.
"Are you okay, Yakumo-senpai!?"
Noticing this, Shido quickly ran over to ask.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But could you help handle the rest of the crabs? Just separate the at and the roe."
"Okay."
"Kotori, could you find a band aid?"
"Ah... right away."
Anyway, her first priority was to separate these three, who were like chemical reagents that would explode if put in the sa beaker.
"Where do you live right now, Mana?"
While Kotori was looking for the band aid, Mikoto tried to steer the topic away from the "real sister vs. step sister" war.
"Eh? Umm... in a workplace dorm... sort of place."
For so reason, Mana, who had answered everything smoothly before, suddenly beca vague.
"Eh? You work at a workplace? Aren't you going to school?"
It was very strange. A girl Mana's age should definitely still be in middle school.
"Umm... umm... Please excuse , I have to go!"
As a result, the girl bolted out the door like a frightened rabbit, leaving the three people in the house looking at each other in confusion.
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