The Little Sister

“Haaahh…”

Haruto Fuwa, back home after turning down Chihiro, washed his face in the bathroom and heaved out a deep sigh.

He’d had absolutely no idea Chihiro liked him like that. To him, Chihiro was his industry pal’s sister—a younger friend, not at all a love interest. It never occurred to him that someone around the age of his own little sister—a good seven years younger than him—could even be perceived along those lines.

“Ahhh…”

Another sigh left his mouth.

Haruto knew how hard unrequited love was, and his heart ached at the idea of inflicting it on someone else. Turning Ui’s feelings down a few months back had racked him with guilt for the entire night afterward. He’d been sure his choice would benefit Ui Aioi the author, and her optimistic response had convinced him she’d understood…but still.

Losing a love, and making someone lose a love, hurt a lot. He didn’t want to experience it, or make anyone else experience it, but this world was full of loves that never went anywhere.

“…Why can’t people choose who they love…?”

He muttered it to himself as he looked at his frail face in the mirror. Then:

“Eww…”

He heard a groan like someone had just stepped in excrement. Quickly turning around, he saw his little sister leering at him, face scrunched up as if she had discovered a weirdly colored caterpillar.

“Geh…!”

He had uttered the most embarrassing thing possible to himself, and the last person he wanted listening to him had heard it all. Haruto’s cheeks burned with shame as his sister began haranguing him.

“Ugh! That was so gross just now, bro! You’re always gross, but that was ten billion times grosser!”

“Ooh…”

He’d normally be firing back right now, but even he thought that was pretty sickening. He couldn’t find the right words.

“So? What happened? What reason would you have for making eyes at yourself in a mirror and reciting a poem like you’re in some shoujo manga? Can you even get any grosser? Did you eat the Gross-Gross Fruit or something? This is just soooo gross! You could win the World Gross-Out Championship! All of America is shuddering at your grossness!”

“Sh-shut up! That was, um, really…you—you know! That! You know what I mean! Pfft! You dumb stupid idiot!”

The momentum he got going resulted in a stream of meaningless words. He opted to make a dash for the bathroom door, still blushing intensely.

“Ah! Whoa! Wait, you stupid brother! …What a dumbass.”

When he was gone, she gave the mirror an icy sideways glance.

“…‘Why can’t people choose who they love?’” she pouted. “That’s the one thing I think of the most, dumbass.”