After Shouting "Raise Your Hand if You Would Go Out with Me!" in Front of the Blackboard — Part 2

I glanced at the clock, but the bell wasn’t going to ring anytime soon. Sigh… I guess I have no choice but to make up my mind…

“Phew…”

Exhaling deeply, I stood up, turned to face the three girls who were staring at me, and bowed deeply.

“Sorry. I’m not planning to date anyone right now.”

“Whaaaat!!??” they all shouted in unison.

Oh, looks like Okajima’s back to life.

“Wha—wait—you!!”

“What’s wrong with you!! You said you wanted a girlfriend!!”

“Well, that’s…”

I leaned back, overwhelmed as the two of them closed in on me, bloodshot eyes glaring, and stammered my reply.

“A high school guy saying ‘I want a girlfriend’ is kinda like an elementary school kid saying ‘I want a million yen,’ right?”

“What does that even mean!?”

“Like, you say it even though you don’t actually think it’ll happen? That comparison makes no sense!!”

“No, but seriously… after school, I’m always working at my part-time job, and I have to take care of my sickly younger stepsister, so I don’t really have time for a girlfriend…”

“A s-sickly stepsister!?”

“What’s with that backstory!? This is the first I’m hearing of it!”

“Don’t call it a ‘backstory’! It’s tough, okay? Our dad’s not around anymore, so things are hard for us!”

In reality, we’re scraping by on my stepmother’s income and my part-time job, and we’re still struggling to cover my stepsister’s medical expenses. We’ve been slowly chipping away at my dad’s inheritance and insurance money to get by.

“Wait a second, Kawakami. There’s no way Shiota has a home life straight out of a romantic comedy. This must be… his imaginary sister—an 'Imaginary Sister,' if you will.”

“Brilliant deduction.”

“No, it's not! She’s real! Look!!”

I showed them a picture on my phone of me and my stepsister, and both Okajima and Kawakami leaned in with surprising intensity.

“No way… cute, you say…!?”

“She’s really cute! Dude, you’re seriously living under the same roof with a girl like that!? Are you actually the protagonist of a rom-com!?”

“Idiot, what are you talking about? We’ve been siblings for seven years already. She’s like real family now.”

Sure, sometimes she asks me to stay with her, and I end up sleeping next to her, but that’s only when she’s feeling especially weak from her illness. It’s not like some romantic situation from a manga or light novel involving stepsiblings. Besides, because she’s been in and out of school, her emotional development seems a little behind for someone in her third year of middle school…

She still clings to me whenever she gets the chance, so I’m guessing she hasn’t gone through that phase of “sexual awakening” yet. Then again, maybe she just doesn’t see me as a guy.

“Wow, seriously, she’s super cute. Like a tragic, delicate beauty, right?”

“She really is… I’m kind of feeling some maternal instincts kicking in.”

“I want her to call me 'big sister'…”

Uh, excuse me, you three girls—what are you even saying?

Delicate beauty… well, I won’t deny she’s got a fragile vibe. But Nagasawa, where exactly is your maternal instinct? And Nanano-san? What are you even talking about?

“(Wait, does this mean Shiota’s secretly a struggling student?)”

“(Taking care of a non-blood-related sister while working part-time? That’s so admirable.)”

“(And he turned down three girls who confessed to him? I thought he’d jump for joy. Is he unexpectedly pure?)”

“(Wow… that’s kind of endearing.)”

“(Yeah… damn, I can’t believe I’m getting butterflies over this.)”

“(Same.)”

…Wait, why are all the girls in class whispering and looking over here? Hold on, do they think I’ve just trampled on pure-hearted girls’ feelings? Am I now officially seen as the enemy of all women?

(But all I did was ask, “Who’d be willing to date me?” I never said anything about actually going through with it, right?)

While I was mentally making excuses, the chime rang, and our Modern Japanese teacher, Yamamoto-sensei, walked in.

“All right, everyone, take your seats. Time for class.”

The popular, beautiful teacher, who’s so well-liked that even the students address her with “-chan,” entered, calming the buzzing classroom.

Relieved, I secretly worried whether my once peaceful school life was now on the verge of becoming a nightmare…

…And yet,

“Ahh, Shiota, you’ve got your part-time job, right? We’ll handle this cleaning, so head home early.”

“N-no, I couldn’t…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, seriously.”

“You always work hard, so it’s fine.”

“Oh… thanks.”

“Shiocchi, want to work with me at my part-time job? My relatives run it, and the pay is really good~.”

“Uh, s-sure…”

“Shiota-kun, here’s my favorite novel… if you’d like, your sister could read it in her free time… and I’d be really happy if you read it too…”

“Uh, thanks. I appreciate it.”

…Ever since that day, the girls in class have been unusually kind to me.

Not just the three who said they’d date me, but all of them are treating me with an almost uncomfortable level of friendliness. Meanwhile…

“Hey, big brother! Could you introduce us to your sister?”

“Will your sister be attending this school next year, big brother!?”

…Ever since that day, the guys in class have been acting way too familiar with me, all because of my stepsister. Not just the two I showed the picture to—now the entire class of boys is sucking up to me. This is genuinely gross.

“Hey, how about next time, we do it during the school assembly and shout it in front of the whole school?”

“Yeah, that sounds awesome!”

“No, it doesn’t!”

I weakly retorted to Okajima and Kawakami, who were grinning and getting carried away with their teasing.

If I actually did that, and the girls from class joined in and raised their hands all at once as a joke, it would be the end of any remaining peace in my school life. It’s already hanging by a thread.

(…I wonder what would happen if I told them that Yamamoto-sensei, who still goes by her maiden name at work and school, is actually my stepmother…)

But no, I’m definitely not saying that. I can’t afford to stir things up any further. I just want to live a peaceful high school life.

Well, for now, things are just temporarily hyped up. Once I go back to acting like my usual dumb self, this weird atmosphere will settle down eventually.

"Hey, Shiota! Your sister’s here or something!"

"Huh?"

Just as I thought that, I heard someone yell something that made no sense. I turned toward the entrance of the classroom, and there she was—my stepsister, who should’ve been at home, holding two lunch boxes.

"Um, b-big brother. I, uh, brought your lunch… you forgot it. This one’s for Mom…"

It’s over.

Amid the murmurs spreading through the classroom like wildfire, I could hear the sound of my peaceful school life shattering into pieces… and all I could do was quietly look up at the sky. 

[The End]

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