CH 6

Chapter 6 Sugar-Bite X Domestic

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Translated by Devxtt

Edited by Zirmir

Read only at Zetrotranslation.com

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After homeroom was over,

I overheard Shigure saying that she was going to have some tea with Haruka after school.

I don’t know when they got separated.

I first met Haruka in fourth grade. I guess by that time she was already alone in daycare.

If she was still living with her sister then Shigure would be at the same school daycare facility.

It should be seven years at the earliest.

If the sisters reunited after seven years, then they need more time to talk.

I replied to Shigure’s message. She said she’d be home by dinner.

So I left school with my friends for the first time in a while.

Then I returned home and washed my face lightly before starting my self-study session.

It’s not mandatory because of my routine, but for now I wanted to get away from these unusual emotions that have been sticking up against my chest since this morning.

My emotions, as a boyfriend and as a brother, what is it right now? I’m not sure if this is okay or not.

……No good, it’s no good, I can’t go on like this.

I’m all alone.

Tomoe was right.

Even if I tell Haruka everything up to now, the only person who’ll feel comfortable is me.

It’ll be a selfish act that forces Haruka to bear the burden alone.

If I care for Haruka, the guilt of hiding something from her is something that I, as her boyfriend, should carry.

About convincing Shigure to lie,

In the first place, she came up with the idea of keeping our parents’ remarriage a secret.

It doesn’t mean that I’m forcing her to lie. It’s just to make sure.

“Ah! Whatever?”

No matter how much I try to reinterpret reality, the haze in my mind would not clear.

I tried to concentrate on my studies, but I couldn’t escape from the sick feelings.

It’s the first time I’m doing something like this.

Eventually, I lost all my interest in studies and looked out of the window at the reddish-blue sky.

The sky above.

There’s still some time left for Shigure to come home. Should I prepare dinner?

This thought crosses my mind, but I remembered last night when she was preparing dinner, and I can’t ignore it. At least I can give her a poor debt of gratitude.

I made some weird noises.

I thought What’s so shameful with it? But I can’t help it.

After some time,

While I was toying with my foolish thoughts, Shigure returned home.

”I’m home~”

“Welcome back……. You’re early. I thought you were going to have dinner with Haruka.”

“I promised Onii-san that I’ll cook. I’ll start preparing dinner.”

“No need. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“I do care. Onii-san seems to be much disciplined in these trivial matters.”

“Guu……”(stomach rumbling)

Is it because of Shigure’s amazing insight that she could see through this much in just one day? Or is it because I’m such a flimsy person? If it’s the latter, it would be a huge dent in my life.

“Dinner will be ready in a moment. And there’s still some miso soup left, so I just have to make the main dish,” she said.

Then Shigure washed her hands and took a wrapped bowl out of the fridge.

Inside, there’s some pieces of pork chops marinated in ginger and soy sauce.

She probably prepared it this morning.

I knew it. I’m the wrong person to stand in this kitchen because I don’t even know what was in the fridge.

I decided to leave the cooking to Shigure.

But then, there’ll be nothing for me to do.

If I was alone, I wouldn’t mind wasting my time in vain, but with another person working in the same room, it’s really uncomfortable.

The next thing I know, I found myself talking to Shigure.

Of course, the topic of conversation is about today’s events…

“…… You and Haruka are twin sisters. So that’s why you two look exactly the same.”

“Yes, well, it was just after I entered elementary school. My mother broke up with my father and we were separated without knowing why, and we hadn’t seen each other since then.”

So it is the first time in about ten years that they met again?

So that’s why Haruka was in tears.

“Then Shigure used to live here as well?”

“Yes. I came back to this town with hope that maybe I could see my Nee~san. That’s why I moved in a year earlier than I had planned.”

“Oh! really?”

“Yes. My mother wants me to go to study in the United States and live with her. Because of my grades, I’ll have no trouble finding a school to study abroad. But I wanted to see my Nee~san so much that I rejected her proposal and came here early……. I even told her that it was her fault. Because of her, I was separated from my Nee~san. It was quite unfair.”

Shigure lowers her voice.

Perhaps she regretted saying that.

But it also means that Shigure wanted to see Haruka so much that she didn’t have to resort to any means.

“……Were you able to talk with her about what you wanted?”

“Yes. What happened after we got separated. About Nee~san’s life. About our father. We talked about a lot of things.”

“I see. I’m glad.”

“But Nee~san, she said a lot about you.”

“Oh, me?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s right, I’ve listened to her endless sweet talk about how you’ve been ‘slathering honey on red bean paste’*. Seriously I’ve got heartburn.”

[TN: はちみつをぶっかけたようなノロケ話]

Haruka speaks fondly of me!?

And it’s enough to give you heartburns!?

Oh, I want to know more!

“Hey, by the way, wh-what did she say about me?”

“I can’t tell you that. Not gonna happen. That’s a girl’s secret.”

“Guess I’ll have to give you 500 yen.”

“Aha ☆ Please hear it from the person itself.”

Acquisition failure. It’s a real shame.

“But, Onii-san, you’ve been going out with Nee~san, haven’t you? I’m surprised. I didn’t realize that I was surrounded by such a horrible correlation. But now I finally understand what’s going on.”

“What do you want to say?”

“You’ve been strangely looking at me ever since we met. I thought it’s because you find me cute, or you’re a creep with the sexual desire of a monkey, or that you’re needlessly trying to be cool and pretentious. It was quite troublesome.”

“So now you understand?”

“Somewhat. To be honest, you’re pretty rude, aren’t you? You’re living with a pretty girl like me.”

“You can’t say that about yourself.”

“This morning’s kiss was supposed to be a special service. But you looked so stressed out, and that was pretty painful.”

Then why you stopped me in the middle.

“……But now that I know the reason, I understand. That’s a bit tricky to deal with, isn’t it? Me and my sister, we look exactly the same. If that was the case, you should have told me earlier.”

“No, I just had a feeling that if I were to tell you, you’ll mess up everything for fun.”

“Rude. Who do you think I am, Onii-san? I know what’s right and wrong.”

Yup. I think so now.

Shigure isn’t that bad.

She doesn’t do anything that’ll hurt them.

She has a clear idea of what she can do with a ‘play bite*’.

[TN: 甘噛み(Amagami)]

“I understand your situation, Onii-san. You’re in a relationship with Nee~san, it certainly was a bad idea to behave like yesterday or this morning. I’m sorry I’ve embarrassed you. I won’t do it again.”

Living with my girlfriend’s twin sister.

It was like a bomb that’ll explode at the slightest touch.

She understands the situation.

“It was fun to tease you, Onii-san. If she’s someone you care about and don’t have any bad intention to hurt her. Then, I don’t want to do something that would make my Nee~san sad. From now on, I will try to keep my distance, not only at school but also in my private life.”

“Distancing?”

“Yeah. Not too much of a relationship. Oh, of course, I’ll do my best to hide the fact that we’re living together. I think it’s best to hide it for at least a year until my mother comes home. If we both work together, we can manage that much.”

After saying that, Shigure smiles at me.

It’s not that devilishly mean smile.

It’s a gentle, but somehow sad smile.

『I’ve always wanted an older sibling.』

……Oh, I see.

I get it now.

Despite the fact that I had no other choice but to hide it from Haruka, why did this haze in my heart isn’t fading?

I’m ashamed of myself for having a relationship with Haruka to the extent that I could only do this much.

That’s the truth.

Under special circumstances, it’s better not to hide anything.

So even if I revealed the truth to Haruka, as long as we had an unshakable bond, nothing could go wrong.

But I couldn’t choose the best way.

That’s a problem caused by my inadequacy.

I’m going to rely on my sister to keep my inadequacies intact. I have to believe in her.

Let me give you a caring smile that …… Doesn’t suit me.

Is that all right? As a lover and as a brother.

— There’s no other reason.

That moment I get up and move closer to Shigure,

“Don’t underestimate me, and please don’t look down on me too much.”

“…… Eh?”

“I’m indeed grateful that you didn’t tell Haruka. But that’s not up to me to decide.

To begin with, who’s going to get serious about it?

I’m not going to change my feelings for Haruka, no matter what a scoundrel like you does. I know what you are.

It doesn’t matter how much you tease me or how many times I get embarrassed, like this every morning.

My most lovely girlfriend is Haruka and my most precious sister is Shigure.

That will never change. Never.”

“…….!”

“So you have to stop worrying about it and let me spoil you. Stop making that gloomy face. I am your big brother.”

I’m probably digging my own grave. And I’m digging a very deep one.

This is good. It’s all right.

I’m not a good lover.

I’m not good as a brother.

I haven’t done any of those things. A little underperformance is inevitable.

But I can’t keep passing the worries between Haruka and Shigure and thinking it’s inevitable.

I’m going to overcome my failures as a lover and as an older brother by myself, little by little.

I want to be able to tell Haruka the truth as soon as possible.

Maybe that’s the most honest answer I can choose right now.

When I realized that, the haze inside my heart starts to fade.

“…… Fufuh, haha. Hahaha!”

That devilish smile returned on Shigure’s face.

A nasty, mean-spirited smile unlike Haruka’s.

”What’s so funny?”

“No, no. You’re a small fry slug who has zero resistance for the opposite sex. You freak out at the sight of me in a bath towel. You, who can’t even notice my camisole strap, and you really think you are cool, Onii-san?”

Ugh.

“That’s a surprise!……. I know your true nature now! I’m not going to do the same thing again!”

“Aha, you won’t? ……But.”

“Huh? ……!”

A moment later, I stop breathing.

Because Shigure put her hands around my back and hugged me.

Then she buried her face in my chest and said.

“I think I kind of understand now why my Nee~san fell in love with you, Onii-san.”

”Sh-Sh-Shigure……!”

“You absolutely have no time to spare, but you do your best for me, don’t you? You’re very kind. I wonder if I should aim for you, Onii-san?”

“Hey, what?”

“You See, we’re twins. And if you love Nee~san, you’ll love me as well. I already like you a lot. What about you, Onii-san? Would you like to flirt with me?”

Wh, wh, wha, What is she talking about?

“Hmm, maybe I should go for it.”

“That’s ~~~~”

“Ahaha. You’re blushing! You’ve been tricked again. You’re a man of no progress, aren’t you, Onii-san?”

Shigure chuckles in my chest.

Damn! I knew it! I knew it would be something like this!

But I can’t help but feel my face heat up after being hugged and said something like that.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You told me that I can do whatever I want, just like that. It’s surprising, but I’m pretty bad, you know?”

“I’m not surprised. You look like you’re having fun.”

“You can’t take it back once it’s out of your mouth.”

I gulped, Shigure pulls my tie with her slender fingers.

Her face, with its provocative smile, is close enough that I can feel her breath.

I’ve never been this close to Haruka.

I can’t help but feel nervous. I tried to put up a bravado.

Even though she’s right here, I have to face her.

“I’m not some two-timer. I have to remind you again, my cheeky little sister, how great your brother is.”

When Shigure heard that, she let go of me, as if she felt better.

“Well, I’ll refrain from doing it at school. Even from my Nee~san, I won’t tell her because I don’t want to hurt her feelings. However, in this house, Onii-san is mine, only for me. It will be fun, so please spoil your cute little sister a lot ♥️.”

Shigure put her finger to the edge of her mouth, showing off her shiny white canine teeth.

It’s as if she’s going to bite me with those fangs.

…… Yes, it seems, I said something unnecessary.

There is no doubt.

But, that’s what I wanted to do.

“Ah! I forgot to buy the curtains.”