CH 249

If Kotaro and Shiho’s story were to be divided into parts, would we now be in Part IV?

Part I is the overnight study program where everyone makes their first appearance.

Part II is the cultural festival in which I played a big role and was defeated in a catastrophic way.

Part III is Christmas when Ryoma awakened.

And the part IV could be the closing ceremony, where the end of Ryoma’s harem romantic comedy will be decided.

In the midst of all this, the defeated heroine of Part I is finally about to return to the main plot of the story.

<“Azusa Nakayama.”>

Formerly a twin-tailed sister character, she is now a younger sister character with a bobbed hair.

Although she is the same age as Kotaro, she is a distorted younger sister who calls him “Onii-chan”.

She is also a pathetic subheroine who grew up in a complicated family environment and was in search of her real “Onii-chan” due to the shock of her beloved brother’s death.

The end of her romantic comedy was so terrible that even I felt pain in my heart.

She fell in love with Ryoma because of his resemblance to the real “Onii-chan,” but he didn’t get Azusa’s feelings at all and eventually rejected her… Her romantic comedy came to an end without her feelings being reciprocated.

Azusa has long ago become a “finished character”.

Despite this, she is still going strong.

As I said, the sister character is very strong.

Even if they can’t be lovers, the connection of “brother and sister” is unbreakable.

The bond of family is probably thicker than the bond of lovers.

Lovers are strangers when they break up.

But a sister can remain a sister forever, even if they have differences.

With the privilege of being special from birth, she seems to be trying to get on the stage.

Compared to Kururi, who is unlikely to go on stage again, Azusa is in a very unique position.

As long as she lives with Kotaro, the narrator, she can definitely appear at every turn.

As if to say ‘don’t forget’, Azusa was asserting herself.

If you want to think of it in terms of our favorite, meta way, … it would be what we call ‘foreshadowing’.

The foreshadowing of Azusa, which has been left unattended for a long time, is finally about to be collected.

Well, … could it be possible that a single word from me could get Azusa on the stage?

If so, that’s a lot of responsibility.

Let’s make sure to get this girl involved as well.

If the story gets more interesting in this way, I will enjoy it very much.

Well, I think that’s enough explanation of the characters who haven’t appeared in a while.

Let’s get on with the main story now.

“Mary-chan, why don’t you come in for now? Let’s talk and take our time, shall we?”

As if beckoning a small animal, Azusa is saying “Come on in” to me.

I was almost drooling at her little sisterly gesture.

“Hehe. Kotaro’s stepsister is really cute, isn’t she?”

“… Don’t do anything weird, okay?”

I don’t do anything weird.

However, I am quite fond of this kind of convenient heroine that is filled with male ideals.

She is cute and looks like a Japanese Zashikiwarashi, and I highly appreciated her from the very beginning.

Well, if she is so adorable, it is understandable that the main heroine, who has no interest in other people, is so passionate towards her.

Azusa may be a person with a natural talent to be loved.

She is different in comparison among the sub-heroines. I felt that she stood out in a good way, not distorted like me.

“I’m gonna come in, all right? After all, an occupant of this house gave me permission, so don’t stop me, okay?”

“Um… Azusa, she’s dangerous, okay? I don’t think you should let her in the house very often.”

“Onii-chan shut up.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Oops. The selfish stepsister is playing with Onii-chan.

As long as you are born an older brother, it is your destiny to listen to your younger sister’s selfishness. It was fun to watch Kotaro bear this responsibility.

He is not usually so agitated, but when it comes to people close to him, he is instantly vulnerable.

It’s really no wonder that he is so humane, even though he is only a mob character.

“Then, excuse me.”

Following Japanese etiquette, I took off my shoes, saying something disrespectful like, “Excuse me.”

Now, it was time to branch out.

If I make the wrong choice, Azusa will unfortunately no longer be able to appear in the story.

That would be too boring, so I’ll do my best to bring her back …