Chapter 2: The Princesses’ Banquet

❤Chapter 2

The Princesses’ Banquet

“And without further ado, let’s get this girls’ party started. Cheers!” As it was my apartment, I gave a rough greeting, and the three of us toasted.

It was an evening in August when Yuki-chan, my sister, and I were having an all-girls party in my apartment. It was originally just going to be Yuki-chan and I drinking together, but when I told her that my sister was staying at my house, we decided to drink with all three of us.

“At this age, you can’t really call us ‘girls’ anymore, can you?” Yuki-chan said with a self-deprecating smile. In her hand was a cup of Japanese sake called Adatara Ginjo, which came from the city of Nihonmatsu in the Fukushima prefecture. I don’t really know much about it, but I’ve heard it’s a pretty famous drink that won a top prize in an international competition. As best friends, Yuki-chan and I decided we should each just bring our own food and drinks, and Yuki came with a whole bottle of sake.

Just how much does she plan on drinking?

“He he he. It’s fine isn’t it, Yuki-chan? Women are girls at heart, no matter how old they become,” my sister said, smiling and with a glass in one hand. She was drinking a Cassis Orange cocktail mixed with orange juice and mixed again with mineral water. Even though she works irregularly at a snack pub, the truth is she’s super weak to alcohol. At her job, not even a single drop of alcohol touches her lips. However, when she’s with friends, she makes really watered-down drinks like this for herself.

“That’s right, Yuki-chan. Being in your twenties still totally counts as being a girl—oh. I’m sorry, Onee-chan...”

“Uh, Hime-chan? I wasn’t worried about it, so could you maybe not apologize? I was just going to ignore your comment, but that face you made when you said ‘oh’ coupled with your apology really twists the knife.”

As soon as the party started, my big sister, the only one among us in her thirties and born in the eighties, was deeply wounded. I was feeling a little guilty, so I brought my glass of Cassis Orange to my lips. I’m not quite as much of a lightweight as Onee-chan, so mine was a normal, not watered-down version.

Lined up on the table were things like cold tofu with toppings, nuts, karaage, salted squid, smoked cheese, Levain crackers, and all kinds of snacks that we brought ourselves. Incidentally, my favorite snack is smoked daikon radish pickles with cream cheese. The smokey flavor of the pickles and the rich flavor of the cream cheese are a match made in heaven! If you put this combination on a Levain cracker, it becomes an awesome trinity! I love it so much that I could eat it every day even without alcohol... But yeah, it’s the kind of snack where you shouldn’t think about the calories.

“Still, it’s been a long time since I last saw you, hasn’t it, Kisaki-san?”

“That’s true. It’s been about three years, I think?” Yuki-chan and my sister were thoroughly enjoying their reunion. My sister used to drop me off and pick me up from high school by car a lot, and that’s how the two of them got to know each other. After becoming adults, the three of us would do things like go out to eat together, albeit very rarely.

“Is your son already walking?”

“Yes, though he’s just waddling around. He still isn’t able to keep his balance and falls down easily, so I can’t take my eyes off of him.”

“I see. So your husband is watching him today?”

“I asked him to. Even though I’m a housewife, I want time to drink with my friends at least once a month,” she said, neither ashamed nor proud, as if she was just relaying the truth. As a fellow woman, I thought being a housewife as a job was cool.

“It’s strange. It feels like it was just yesterday that you were my little sister’s high school kid friend, but now you have a child and you’re a great mother. Time really does fly,” my sister said, and she shot me a mischievous look. “I mean, even Hime-chan finally has a boyfriend now.”

“H-Hey, hold on, Onee-chan... What do you mean by ‘even Hime-chan’?”

“I mean, I thought it would be impossible for you to get a boyfriend. On your days off, you just play video games, you don’t have any guy friends, and you’re not the type to be proactive... Mom and I used to always talk about how we had to somehow find you someone nice, you know?”

“H-How rude!” I was crushed, but I couldn’t make a strong comeback. In fact, I think my being able to date Momota-kun is a miracle on top of a miracle. If I hadn’t met him in May of this year, I feel like my weekdays would have just been me going back and forth between my office, and I would have spent my weekends just playing video games. I could understand why my mom and older sister had been worried.

“You used to be so ungirly, and now you have a wonderful boyfriend.”

“Y-Yeah, Momota-kun sure is wonderful.”

“I don’t really know much about it, but the IT business seems amazing.”

“Y-You’re right...”

“Mom also said, ‘IT seems amazing.’”

“Yeah... The IT business sure seems amazing...”

As we continued our silly back and forth, I cast my gaze at Yuki-chan. Understanding the situation, she nodded her head at me as if to say, “I get it, I get it. I’ll play along.”

I still hadn’t been able to tell my sister and mom the truth about my very first boyfriend being a fifteen-year-old high school boy. To my sister and mother, Momota-kun was a twenty-five-year-old adult—and he was also the rising young star of a listed IT company, and everyone had high expectations for his future.

I felt bad for laying it on so thick about him. Luckily, the Orihara family’s knowledge of the IT business didn’t go beyond “IT seems amazing,” so the issue wasn’t pursued too deeply.

“By the way, how’s it been lately, Hime-chan?”

“W-What do you mean by ‘it’?”

“I mean Momota-kun, of course. Are you guys getting along well?”

“Well, probably. We don’t argue, and we’ve been enjoying dating.”

“Hmm. That’s not what I meant, he he he. Well, that’s fine. Let’s leave that kind of deep conversation for a little later in the evening.” My sister smiled suggestively and tilted her glass seductively. Her gesture was sexy, but since she was drinking a Cassis Orange that was basically orange juice, she wasn’t really sticking the landing.

“That’s right. I also wanted to have some deep conversation with you, Hime.” Yuki-chan smiled and refilled her glass with sake. The way she expertly poured her drink from the bottle gave her the air of a seasoned heavy drinker.

“G-Go easy on me...” I said meekly and took a sip of my Cassis Orange.

Our all-girls (around thirty) party had begun in such a fashion, but the conversation inevitably turned to romance. It all started with a nice warm-up conversation about “What kind of guy is your type?”

“Someone who’s smart,” Yuki-chan declared resolutely. “Not like book smarts, but like, brightness or common sense. I like guys who give off an intelligent vibe.”

“That checks out. Your husband is totally like that,” I pointed out. I knew most of her exes, and every one of them seemed really knowledgeable. It appeared that Yuki-chan couldn’t really get along with someone who isn’t smart. “How about you, Onee-chan?”

“Well...” After giving it some thought, my sister said, “Someone who doesn’t cheat, maybe?” with a self-mocking smile.

“...” Yuki-chan and I went quiet at the same time.

Yeesh, that’s heavy. It’s even worse when someone who got a divorce over cheating says it.

“How about you, Hime?” Yuki-chan said as she tried to lighten the mood and passed the question to me.

“Me? I don’t think I have a type.” I’d never really thought about that kind of thing. I had characters and Kamen Rider actors that I liked, but it’s not like I ever wanted to date any of them. “If I have to pick a type, I guess I like guys who are tall.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

“No, I’m not talking about Momota-kun!” Yuki-chan was looking at me knowingly, so I denied it in a panic. As I did that, my sister also looked at me with a grin.

“Momota-kun’s really got it going on with how manly he is. He’s so tall and he’s got those broad shoulders.”

“I-I’m not talking about... Well...that is true.” I had to accept it. It is true after all. I mean...he’s so attractive! He’s tall and he has a nice build, a big chest, broad shoulders, and big, defined hands. Overall, he’s just so masculine that it really hits the mark for me.

“Hmm. Maybe our preferences are so similar because we’re sisters, Hime? I’m more into well-built guys than skinny guys. However, I’m a little surprised.”

“Huh? What’s surprising?”

“The fact that your boyfriend is younger. I just kind of thought that if you were ever able to get a boyfriend, it would be someone older.”

“R-Really? Why?”

“Hmm, I wonder why? It’s not like I have a solid reason. I kind of just thought someone older would be a better match for you. I also just assumed that you preferred older guys to younger guys.”

I thought a little bit about what my type was before I met Momota-kun. “Now that you mention it, I probably did like older guys...”

I never really thought about what kind of person my type was, but I fantasized as much as the next person: I imagined things like a life with a fantasy boyfriend, my ideal situation for being proposed to, married life with a fantasy husband—you know, the kinds of things that you can’t really tell people about. It’s not like I thought that hard about the details, but...I get the feeling that my fantasy boyfriends were always older than me.

“Yeah, that’s usually how it is,” Yuki-chan said while letting out a small sigh. “It’s pretty common for the person you fall in love with to not be ‘your type.’”

That’s right. It’s not like Momota-kun isn’t my type...but I kind of can’t believe it. If I told myself last year that my very first boyfriend would be a high schooler who’s twelve years younger than me, my eyes probably would have gone wide with shock.

The next topic went a little deeper: “How do you feel about cheating?”

“Hey, you two, when do you think cheating starts?” my sister asked. Thanks to my sister saying that her type was “guys who don’t cheat,” it seemed like delving into those kinds of questions would be taboo, but, surprisingly, she was the one to instigate it.

“I-I don’t really know...”

“For example, Hime-chan, if you were told ‘My female friend and I are going to hang out,’ would you be okay with that?”

“Hmm... I probably wouldn’t.”

Well, the truth is I had been before. During that incident with Ibusuki-san, I gave Momota-kun permission to have a date with her at that amusement park. The circumstances being what they were, I thought that there was no getting around it, but it still wasn’t a good feeling. I was so anxious that it felt like my heart was going to be crushed. Honestly, I wanted him to knock that kind of thing off from now on.

“It’d be okay if he was going with a big group of people, but if it was just the two of them, I don’t know...” I continued.

“For me, it would depend on what they were doing,” Yuki-chan said. “As a wife, I’d like them to refrain from things like traveling or staying somewhere overnight, but if the two of them are just going to get something to eat or going to see a movie together, I’m not going to complain about it.”

“Oh, really? You’d hate it if they went to see a movie together, wouldn’t you? That’s practically cheating, isn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t like it if he kept it a secret from me, but if I were told about it beforehand, I wouldn’t particularly mind. Even as a husband and wife, I don’t think we should meddle in each other’s relationships with friends and acquaintances.”

“Oh, I see,” I said, impressed by her mature words.

Then my sister began to chuckle. “...Heh. He he he. Yeah, when I was married, I had the same stance as Yuki-chan. I thought I would be easy-going and that we would respect each other’s freedom and rights without being overly intrusive... But the truth is, I’m not that strong a woman.”

She continued to speak as a deep sadness entered her voice. “I tried not to worry about what my husband did with anyone. Even if his ‘company drinking parties’ and ‘unusual overtime’ kept happening, I thought I’d believe him without question. I didn’t want to be thought of as some controlling, horrible wife... I wanted to be thought of as a wife that was generous and understanding. However, the result was my husband cheating on me without hesitation.”

Yuki-chan and I were silent.

“On top of that, the person he was cheating on me with...was someone younger, daintier, and slenderer than I am. That hurt... Him cheating on me with someone who’s the complete opposite of me was way more painful than him cheating on me with just anybody.”

The two of us couldn’t say anything. I felt like I wanted to tell her to not get so depressed over a topic that she brought up herself, but there was a darkness there that I was afraid to approach. Since my sister seemed like she’d fall into endless sadness, the topic was forcefully ended.

After a short break, we moved onto a topic unrelated to love: “How has work been lately?”

“It was the worst... I thought I was going to die...” I said, letting out a deep sigh.

“Hime really has been having a hard time lately. She fought her upper management just like Hanazawa Naoki all by herself.”

“I think I worked really hard! I was like the main character of a corporate TV drama, the way I fought with my boss! I was trying so hard to look cool in front of my subordinate, but I was so nervous I felt like I was going to die the whole time! Yuki-chan, praise me! I worked really hard, so praise me!”

“Yes, yes, you worked really hard. I’m so proud of you.” I flopped onto and hugged Yuki-chan as she gave me shallow praise.

“Oh, so you really have been working hard,” my sister said sincerely. “When you were searching for work, you would say things like ‘If there’s little overtime and a lot of time off, anywhere is fine’ and ‘My priority is securing time to play video games.’ Now what do you know, you’ve become a respectable member of society.”

“...Well, that’s because I’m twenty-seven years old now,” I pouted, sounding a little embarrassed.

“By the way, Hime-chan, how about Momota-kun?”

“What about him?”

“His job. Is it going well?”

“...Oh, um, yeah, it’s probably going well, I think. Lately, um, it seems like he’s been programming something.”

“Programming, huh... Yeah, I know what you mean about programming. Even I understand that much. It’s like...something that has to do with a program, right?”

“That’s right. Um... Also, lately, it looks like he’s been c-computering.”

“Oh... Yeah. Computering, right. Yeah, I totally get that. It’s that thing, right? That...really important thing.”

“Y-Yeah, that really important thing.” I desperately tried to use my shallow knowledge to fool my sister, who was pretending to understand because she had less knowledge than me. All the while, Yuki-chan gave me a cold look, as if to say, “It’s amazing you’ve managed to make it so far like this.”

After another break, the topic was: “Where did you go this summer?”

“Did you go somewhere this summer, Hime? Like, to the mountains or the ocean?”

“Um... Well, I took a kind of camping trip to the mountains.”

“Now that you mention it, you did come home once to borrow our car. Didn’t you say you went with some people from work?”

“Y-Yeah. I went with some people from work...” After I said that to my sister, I gave Yuki-chan a look, and she gave me a look back that said, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll play along.” There was no way that I could tell the truth: that I went camping with a group of high schoolers and played the role of the old lady chaperone. “It’d been a long time since I went camping, and I had a lot of fun. I wore a swimsuit and went playing in a river, so it was like I was able to enjoy the mountains and the ocean at the same time.”

“Is that right? But Hime, do you even own a swimsuit?”

“E-Excuse you... Even I own a s-swimsuit—”

“We bought it together.”

“Y-Yuki-chan...” Just as I was trying to fool my sister, I felt like I was stabbed from behind.

“Oh, really? If Yuki-chan went with you, then I can rest at ease. If it was just you by yourself, Hime-chan, there’s no telling what kind of swimsuit you’d buy.”

“We chose something that properly suited Hime.”

“Yeah. Right,” I said without thinking to a calm-looking Yuki-chan.

“What? I chose a cute one for you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah... It was a really good one. I think the last one you chose for me was really good. But you really enjoyed playing around with all the ones before that, didn’t you?!” In the back of my mind, my memory of my humiliation in the swimsuit section was revived. “The eyepatch-style bikini and the monokini were really revealing, so I could understand why you chose them, but you were just messing with me with the school swimsuit and the seashell bikini, weren’t you?!”

“I mean, you’ll put on anything I ask you to, so I wanted to know just how much I could get you to wear. Still... I didn’t think that you’d actually wear that seashell bikini.”

“You’re terrible! I was so desperate, and I was depending on you!”

“Don’t pout. I’m sorry I played with you,” Yuki-chan apologized.

Well, to be honest, I wasn’t really mad. I made some good memories with the final swimsuit she chose, so I have nothing but gratitude toward her now. I did have that embarrassing accident where the swimsuit came undone and my boobs were exposed, though... If I were wearing a school swimsuit, that kind of accident probably wouldn’t have happened, but...at my age, a school swimsuit is the last thing I should be wearing.

Finally, after an hour had passed since our girls’ party had started and everyone had had enough to drink, the topic of our discussion became more mature.

“Hey, Hime-chan, Yuki-chan...” my sister said with glassy eyes and an oddly persistent voice. She should have been drinking only extremely watered-down drinks, yet it still seemed like the alcohol had built up in her system since she looked pretty drunk. “Frankly speaking...have you been having sex lately?”

“Huh?!” I did a spit take with my drink. The expression on Yuki-chan’s face didn’t change, but for a moment her eyebrow twitched. Though not as much as I was, she was a little shaken.

“Wh-What are you saying, Onee-chan?”

“What? Why not? Let’s finally have a deep conversation. He he he,” she laughed charmingly and drew her body closer. “How about it, Hime-chan? Tell your big sister. When was the last time you did it with Momota-kun?”

“Th-The last time... We haven’t even had a first time...”

“I thought so. You guys still haven’t done anything.”

“...”

Crap, she got me. If she’d started out with something like “Have you done it yet?” I might have been able to dodge the question, but she loaded her question with the premise that I’d already done it, so I couldn’t help but object.

“He he. It’s just as I predicted. It looks like you two are taking your time and nurturing your love. You’re like middle schoolers. It’s so cute!”

“And what’s wrong with that?! We have our own pace!”

“I’m not going to criticize you two’s relationship... But I’ll feel sorry for Momota-kun if you keep taking it easy.”

“What?”

“He’s really patient, isn’t he? Honestly, he’s probably thinking he wants to do it with you right now.”

“I-I wonder if that’s true?”

“Of course it is! Momota-kun is a young man. He may seem selfless, but just beneath the surface, he’s like an animal. Twenty-five-year-old men are the embodiment of lust,” my sister declared. Her words sounded pretty real. If a twenty-five-year-old man is the embodiment of lust...then what does that make a fifteen-year-old boy?

“He hasn’t made a move even though he’s dating you and he’s been shown those boobs up close. Momota-kun sure is something. He’s like a monster of selflessness and kindness,” Yuki-chan said like she was over it.

A monster of sincerity and kindness? Is she praising him or speaking ill of him?

“But sometimes that restraint is a sin too, right? Hime, the truth is you want him to take you right now, don’t you?”

“What?!”

“Oh, bull’s eye?”

“N-No, no! It’s not like I...” The two of them looked at me gleefully as I became too embarrassed to speak.

“I knew Hime was kind of pent up.”

“That’s true. Until this year, Hime-chan hasn’t had a boyfriend. Her fantasies must be pretty wild.”

“Momota-kun doesn’t seem to have that kind of experience either.”

“Yeah, Momota-kun’s so cute. He seems so naive and simple. Just thinking about how cute these two are makes my heart flutter. I wonder what their first time is going to be like...”

“Oh, come on! Shut up!” I shouted, unable to take it anymore. “We don’t need to talk about me anymore! Leave me alone!”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry for making fun of you,” my sister said and caressed my head. She then turned to Yuki-chan. “How about you, Yuki-chan? How have things been with you and your husband lately?”

“...” Having been asked such a private question, the smile that Yuki-chan had while making fun of me disappeared. Her face became stiff, and she gulped down the rest of the sake in her cup. “To be honest...we haven’t been having sex,” she said with a deep sigh. “After our son was born, it became very rare. It’s not like we don’t do it at all, it’s just that mostly I’m the one who initiates it...”

“Oh, I see. A lot of couples do become like that after they have a child,” my sister said, sounding somewhat lonely. “We never had a child, but... around the time things ended, it was a completely sexless marriage. Even though I was the one to approach him, a lot of times I’d be turned down... It’s such a crushing feeling of defeat getting turned down by the person you married.”

“It feels like I’ve lost my sense of worth as a woman... And to think it was a pain how many guys were after me when I was younger...”

“Yeah, totally! For the longest time, I was like, ‘Why do guys only think about sex?’ but here I am now, feeling depressed about getting turned down.”

I was completely unable to keep up with the real talk of a married woman and a divorcee, so I just sat there and listened in silence. Th-This conversation is amazing. These two were super popular and had a steady stream of boyfriends when they were students; they’re from a completely different world from an introvert like me.

Gradually this conversation from another world got even deeper.

“I think it’s called ‘pushing rope’? Lately, it’s been happening to my husband.”

“Yuki-chan, your husband is twelve years older than you, right? In that case, there’s no getting around it. Some things just come with age.”

“I know it’s just a fact of life, but... I don’t know how to deal with it. I feel like if I try to cheer him up, I’ll just hurt his feelings even more.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s a shock to the man too. There were times with my ex-husband where things ended without him getting hard, and it was awkward for the both of us.”

“I wonder if a guy’s sex drive really does peak around his teens and his twenties and then declines from there?”

“Hmm, I think that’s not necessarily true? I think that it varies from person to person. For example, the person I did it with recently was close to his forties, but he was really rough and intense like he was still in his twenties—”

“Recently?” I said, unable to resist picking up on this single word from their other-worldly conversation.

“Oops.” My sister covered her mouth.

“U-Um.”

“Onee-chan... When did you find someone like that?”

“Th-The truth is...I’ve met someone kind of nice,” she said, seeming embarrassed yet a little happy.

“I see. You should have told me! Is he from around our town?”

“No, he’s not. He’s actually from around here...”

“Around here? Oh... Then does that mean that the reason you’re staying at my house right now is to come see that person?!”

“Y-Yes. I’m going to meet him the day after tomorrow,” she said with an embarrassed smile. Until now, my sister acted with the composure of an older person, but she now suddenly had a gentle look on her face like a maiden who had fallen in love.

“Hmm. I can’t take my eyes off of you, Onee-chan. Since when have you guys been dating?”

“We first met about a month ago... When I was staying at your house in June, we ran into each other in town... W-Well, strictly speaking, we’re not dating yet. We’ve only eaten dinner together once...”

“I see, I see. You guys aren’t dating yet—huh? Huh?” I had heard a certain set of words that I couldn’t just ignore, so I did a double take. “You’re not dating?”

“Y-Yes. We’re kind of just, like, friends or acquaintances...”

“You had sex, even though you’re not dating?”

“...Well, yes,” my sister said awkwardly and diverted her eyes.

I...had some very complicated feelings about this. On the one hand, I wanted to congratulate her, but on the other hand, I had an uneasy feeling in my chest I couldn’t get rid of.

“What? Onee-chan... What are you even doing?”

“Wh-What?! What’s wrong with it?!”

What’s wrong? Well, it’s not like anything is wrong... It’s not like anything is wrong, it’s just...

“Hmph. A kid like you probably doesn’t understand, Hime-chan, but adult relationships can take lots of different forms.”

“Forms? No... That’s not a thing. You’re horrible, Onee-chan! You should do those things properly. You’re an adult, and you’re almost forty, after all.”

“Excuse you, I-I’m almost thirty! I’m thirty-four!”

“The same kind of thing happened back then too, right? Like when you thought you were being cheated on by your boyfriend, but he only thought of you as a bang buddy.”

“Th-That was different! The guy I met this time is really committed!”

“As if! A guy who’s really interested in you wouldn’t have sex before you started dating.”

“Sh-Shut up! Not everyone is a reserved virgin like Momota-kun!”

“Huh?! Wh-What... Wh-Why are you bringing up Momota-kun? Why are you criticizing someone else’s boyfriend?!”

“You’re the one who started this fight!”

“I’m just warning you! Having sex right after you meet someone... That just makes you slutty! You’re a slutty milf!”

“A-A slutty milf?! You’re an idiot, Hime-chan! Why would you say something so horrible?! It’s rich coming from an annoying hardcore virgin!”

“H-Hardcore virgin?! It’s better than being easy! It’s better than being a loose slut!”

“Dummy! Idiot! You’re stupid, Hime-chan!”

“You’re stupid, Onee-chan! Stupid!”

“Knock it off, you two,” Yuki-chan said in a fed-up voice, putting an end to our sibling rivalry that had turned ugly (in part because of the alcohol). “I’d like to say you’re both in the wrong, but between the two of you I’d say this is more Hime’s fault.”

“Wh-What?”

“Kisaki-san has her own way of falling in love. It’d be wrong for another person to force their opinion on her.”

“I... I know that, but I’m worried, after all... I don’t know what I’d do if my sister got hurt again.” I saw up close just how much my sister got hurt by her divorce over her husband’s infidelity. She normally acts so composed and strong, but I’ve seen her hiding in the middle of the night and crying by herself.

I want to be unconditionally happy for my sister if she’s got a new boyfriend, but...finding out she had sex with someone that she isn’t even dating just makes me emotional.

“I’m sorry, Onee-chan...”

“...No. I’m sorry too, Hime-chan. Thank you for worrying about me. However,” she said with a look of fierce emotion before continuing, “I can’t afford to take my time. I’m divorced, I’m living with my parents, I don’t have a degree, and I’m thirty-four years old... I want to cherish these limited encounters. I’m just... I’m lonely!” As her voice filled with emotion, tears welled up in her eyes.

She then gulped down the last of her watered-down alcohol and said, “I want to be like you and Yuki-chan and have someone who loves me! Even though I’m divorced... No, because I’m divorced, this time I want to be happy!” she yelled loudly.

Our girls’ party continued after that, but because my sister had gotten into an unusual mood, she started to drink without thinking about her pace...

“Zzz...”

...and as a result, she soon fell asleep. She looked very comfortable as she slept sprawled out on the carpet. I put a blanket on her so she didn’t catch a cold from the air conditioning.

“How could Kisaki-san get so drunk off of such weak drinks?” Yuki-chan looked surprised as she took a sip of my sister’s leftover drink.

“My sister is deathly weak to alcohol.”

“Is it okay for someone like that to work as a hostess?”

“Well, the pub is owned by a friend of my mother, and she’s just a helper. The customers are mostly local regulars, and I hear they don’t force her to drink.”

“Really? That’s good.” While she nodded, Yuki-chan filled her empty glass with more sake. Even though her bottle of sake was about halfway gone, her face wasn’t turning red. As for me... I was about at my limit. The alcohol had worked its way through my system, and even though I didn’t feel sick, I was feeling pleasantly sleepy.

“Hey, Hime,” Yuki-chan said to me as I started to become drowsy. In a calm, cool voice that didn’t make her seem drunk, she asked, “When are you going to tell Kisaki-san the truth?”

“...” It was like I was splashed with cold water. I felt like my buzz and my drowsiness instantly disappeared.

“When are you going to tell her that Momota-kun isn’t the rising young star of an IT company and is just a fifteen-year-old high school student?”

“I’ll... I’ll tell her the truth someday.”

“Really?”

I’d said “someday” like I was avoiding the issue, but Yuki-chan didn’t pursue it any further. She just nodded silently and brought her cup to her lips.

My first boyfriend is a high schooler who’s twelve years younger than me, and right now we’re engaged in sexual misconduct. I can’t tell her. There’s no way I can tell her. However, one day, I’ll have to. If I want to seriously think about a future with him—if I’m going to make our relationship something serious and I’m not just playing around, it’s something that I definitely can’t avoid. My sister, my mother, my father, and Momota-kun’s father—one day, we’ll have to be accepted by both our families. I know this.

This uneasiness has been stirring deep in my heart the entire time. However, I’d like to keep dreaming somehow. I’d like to forget about reality and keep dreaming together. I want to continue to be intoxicated by the world’s greatest miracle of finding mutual love and keep dreaming. I wish we could be left alone a little longer as we kept running away from our unavoidable reality.

As I held onto those naive thoughts like a prayer, I drank the last of my Cassis Orange.

I’ll spoil the events that occur a little bit later. Before long, my sister will find out about our relationship. In terms of the time frame, it will be about two weeks from today. For a student like Momota-kun, that will be around right after summer vacation has ended. My sister, Orihara Kisaki, will learn the true identity of my boyfriend. She’ll learn that Momota Kaoru is a fifteen-year-old high school student. What’s more, it will be at a time that no one expected.