Chapter Seven

Afternoon X Bubbles

A few days had passed since I’d wound up with a little sister who was the spitting image of my girlfriend.

Thanks to her incredible communication skills, Shigure had fit into AP class in no time at all. Even from a distance, I could perceive her impressive skill at making and maintaining relationships. Whenever we had breaks, she consistently found a group to hang out with. At the same time, she never made herself the center of attention. She excelled at remaining neutral and balanced, aiming to avoid both excess affection and any animosity.

Just as Tomoe had suggested, she analyzed and conquered her surroundings with precision and ease. It must have been related to her skills in martial arts. Regardless, that had been Shigure’s secret to surviving in this world, and she was admittedly quite impressive at it.

Back at home, our relationship as siblings was progressing rather well. “Hiromichi,” you might say, “you had zero experience interacting with women before you started dating Haruka. How can you now deal with having an impish little sister who looks exactly like your girlfriend?” Well, let’s just say it hadn’t been smooth sailing. Fortunately, humans could adapt to almost anything that was forced on them. It was thanks to my tentative plan—or rather, my resolve to welcome Shigure with open arms—that I was able to do so.

Although the awkwardness had disappeared from our normal interactions, I still hadn’t gotten used to anything that drew attention to Shigure’s feminine side. It was precisely because she looked so much like my girlfriend that things became incredibly dicey whenever those instances cropped up. Despite my better judgment, I occasionally confused the two, and—as a result—I was constantly nagging at Shigure to stop acting in certain ways.

“Oh, so now I’m not allowed to act as spoiled as I like?” she would ask, disregarding me.

Waving around the “get of the jail free card” I’d so foolishly given her, she acted with total indifference to my plight. Whenever that happened, I would curse my own thoughtlessness. Yet each time I caught a glimpse of her gleeful expression, a stupid little voice inside my head would assure me that everything was fine.

Who would have pegged me for such a kind older brother? Not anyone I knew, that’s for sure.

During our first weekend together, Shigure and I took the afternoon to visit the electronics store. Since our apartment only had a regular microwave, she’d been dying to buy a convection one.

After we had arranged for the delivery, we walked to the supermarket and bought a mountain of ingredients.

“God, this is heavy,” Shigure whined. “What kind of demon makes their little sister carry all these groceries? Help me out here!”

“I’m carrying the water, meat, fish, and rice. You can at least handle the vegetables,” I pointed out.

“C’mon—at least take this squash off my hands!”

“Hey, don’t unload the heaviest thing on me! Plus, my other hand is completely full because someone decided they needed four bottles of soda since they were on sale.”

“Big Brooo...” she sobbed feebly.

I ignored her crocodile tears and courageously scaled the apartment building’s steel-framed staircase. The metal plates, which looked as tattered and hole-ridden as ever, creaked more than usual.

This isn’t going to fall out from under my feet, right...?

I managed to scale the last few steps with some trepidation and finally arrived at our apartment.

“We’re home,” I said. It’s something I’d started saying recently, regardless of whether someone was already home or not—like right now. Obviously, it wasn’t a habit I’d practiced when I lived alone. For some reason I couldn’t quite place, I felt moved.

“Yeah, we’re home. And I’m exhausted,” Shigure whined.

I left my little sister in a grumpy, collapsed heap by the entryway and headed for the kitchen.

“Well, guess we should start by putting away all the raw food into the fridge,” I declared, placing the mountain of groceries down.

“Stop right there, Big Bro! What the hell are you trying to pull?!”

In the blink of an eye, Shigure had leapt to her feet and dashed over to me.

“Huh?” I blurted out. “I’m just dealing with the groceries.”

“The first thing you do when you get home is wash your hands! Even five-year-olds know that!” she scolded.

“Oh, that’s what you’re so worked up about? Talk about sweating the small stuff.”

“The hell did you just say to me, dumbass?” she barked.

Whoa, who’s she calling ‘dumbass’?! Hello, 911? I sense murder in that tone!

“Then I have to ask,” Shigure said. “At any point while we were out today, did you happen to fix your junk?”

“My ‘junk’?! I’ve told you, girls shouldn’t be saying that kind of stuff!”

“I’m not kidding right now. Did your hands go anywhere near your pants?”

“O-Of course not!” I stammered, overwhelmed by Shigure’s serious tone and expression.

“Really? You didn’t unconsciously fiddle around with your twig and berries? I mean, it’s pretty hot for the end of May, and you’re wearing denim jeans. Weren’t you feeling just the slightest bit stuffy under those? Perhaps it got so unbearable, you unthinkingly pushed little Hiromichi to the side while I wasn’t looking. Can you say with absolute certainty that nothing of the sort ever happened?”

“Er, well...” I floundered, since I couldn’t say for sure. As far as I could remember, I was innocent, but there was a chance I had unconsciously repositioned “little Hiromichi”—for men, that wasn’t much different from breathing.

“Suppose you fiddled around down there even once,” she continued. “If you then touched the fridge handle, you would’ve committed a grave act of bio terrorism. As the protector of this kitchen, I must bring down the hammer of justice on your crimes against humanity. So with all that said, I’ll repeat myself—can you swear on your grandfather’s grave that you didn’t rearrange your ding-a-ling at all? Cross your heart, hope to die, stick a needle in your eye?”

“Stick a needle in my eye”? God, she’s not being literal about that, is she?

“Okay! I got it already! I’ll go wash my hands!” I yelped, quickly fleeing from the terror that was my little sister.

I stood at the sink, letting the water run over my hands.

“If only you had done that from the start,” Shigure muttered with a sigh. “Make sure to scrub under your nails, too.”

“Are you my mom?” I asked.

“Would you like me to tuck you in with a warm glass of milk?”

“You’ve crossed into grandma territory there,” I joked while lathering my hands with the foamy soap.

“Hi-yah!” Shigure shouted, nudging me to the side with her hip. “Scoot over. This sink is really small.”

“Okay, okay.”

Considering our apartment didn’t even have a changing room, luxuries such as a bathroom sink weren’t exactly afforded to us. We did everything—from washing our hands to brushing our teeth—in the kitchen.

I quickly moved out of the way, allowing Shigure to fill the empty space. She ran the water over her hands, then pressed down on the soap bottle’s pump a few times.

“Huh?” she blurted, tilting her head in confusion. She swatted the pump a few more times for good measure, but was only rewarded by a small trickle of soap.

“None left?” I asked.

“Yep, looks like we’ve run out. Do we have any refills?”

“Uh, I don’t think so. We used them all up recently.”

“Talk about embarrassing—how could I, of all people, have allowed this oversight?”

“So much for the ‘protector of the kitchen,’ am I right?”

“Touché. I guess that means I’ll just have to borrow some from you.”

“Borrow some? What do you meEEAAAN?!”

My innocent question had quickly turned into a pathetic squeal as Shigure grabbed my hand mid-sentence. Hey, it’s true that she was my little sister, but she was still a girl in the end!

“Wh-What are you doing?!” I cried.

“Isn’t it obvious? Since you used the last of the soap, we have no choice but to wash our hands together.”

“That’s just gonna make our hands dirtier, isn’t it?!”

“Not at all. Look, we’re killing every microbe of bacteria as we speak. Oh, wait—are you getting all flustered from holding my hand? How naughty of you. Aren’t you going out with my wonderful sister?”

The corners of Shigure’s mouth loosened into a smile, revealing that malicious grin once again, which always seemed to say, “You’re impossible not to tease.” At the same time, she looked overjoyed to see me embarrassed.

You wanna play that game, huh?

“I said this before, right?” I asked. “You’re not even on my radar. Use my hand however you like.”

“Oh, really now? Then don’t mind if I do.”

“Gah!”

Her pale, slippery hand began to caress mine. The stimulus sent shivers down my spine, but so what? Compared to how I’d felt when holding Haruka’s hand, this was nothing! Seriously.

“Oh my,” Shigure said. “You seem quite composed.”

“You’ve belittled me for long enough. For any man in a loving relationship, this level of contact is child’s play. Just so you know, I held hands with Haruka over a week ago!”

“Only a week ago? That’s, uh, quite something... Still, I’ll admit I’m a touch disappointed. I was hoping to see you act a little more flustered.”

Heh. I’ve got this one in the bag.

Shigure’s constant mocking and mind games had finally started to grate on me. I needed to win a few rounds.

“But when I look at you in this light, you really are a man,” she noted.

“What do you mean?”

“Look—when we line up our hands, yours are clearly thicker and larger than mine.”

“Yeah, that’s just common se—”

“Hi-yah!”

“Eep!”

Shigure took advantage of my slip in concentration to unleash a swift assault. While our hands were pressed together to compare sizes, she’d slipped her fingers between mine and squeezed tightly. Her fingers, slick with soap, wriggled around and tickled the ultra-sensitive webbing of my hand. Unable to bear that squirming sensation, I ended up letting out another squeal.

“That wasn’t a very manly yell,” Shigure laughed. “You sounded so adorable... and a little erotic.”

“Gah!”

My pathetic response caused Shigure to grow even cockier, if such a thing were possible. Her pale fingers slithered and coiled around mine like a snake, the sudsy bubbles slipping and squeaking with each movement. The bubbles inflated as her fingers danced around my hands until they burst. A slippery, suggestive sound echoed throughout the crimson, sunset-lit room.

“Looks like I’ve ruffled your feathers a bit,” Shigure giggled. “Now that you’ve experienced this level of pleasure, you’ll never be able to forget it. I bet every time your fingers entwine with your beloved girlfriend, you’ll remember the sensation you felt with her twin sister—what an awful boyfriend.”

“Ugh...”

This is bad news! We’re just washing our hands, but it feels like we’re doing something incredibly dirty!

She was right—if this little game continued for much longer, I really would think of it each time we held hands. Obviously, I couldn’t let that happen. However, when I opened my mouth to yell “stop,” that cursed girly squeal nearly escaped my lips for a third time.

Damn it, how can Shigure be so calm?

It wasn’t like she was wearing protection—her hands must’ve felt the same way mine did. Skin sensitivity didn’t vary that much between people. I mean, if something tickled, that was that.

No. There’s no way she’s as composed as she’s letting off.

In any case, I couldn’t remain passive forever; it was time to go on the offensive. I’d twist that poker face into something shameful. I psyched myself up, then squeezed Shigure’s hand in return.

“Ah...” she gasped.

Now, let’s have a look-see. Show me your pathetic—

I turned my gaze toward Shigure, but my thoughts immediately came to a halt and my heart leaped into my throat when I saw her face.

“Urgh!” I shouted. “I-I’ve had enough of this!”

“W-Wait, Big Bro! I still haven’t cleaned under my nails.”

“Clean them yourself! You should have enough suds by now!”

---

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“Aw, c’mon!” Shigure cried. “You’re dripping soap all over the floor!”

“I’ll clean it up later!”

I fled from the kitchen into the neighboring bathroom, tail tucked between my legs like a pathetic, cowering dog. Can you blame me, though? After all, when I’d squeezed Shigure’s hand back, her expression... had been a perfect reflection of Haruka’s joyful face whenever we were together. It was the very same misty, feverish look.

My heart pounded in my chest, and my face felt as though it was on fire. Although I had started to separate Haruka and Shigure in my mind, her expression in that moment had threatened to reset all my progress. If I screwed up even once, returning to normal would be impossible—the thought haunted me.

Maybe...

A wild idea—self-conscious to the point of absurd—appeared in the back of my mind. At the same time, I reached over to the bathtub’s faucet to rinse the soap off my hands and spied the body wash sitting to the side.

Wait, what?

“Hey,” I called out. “This just occurred to me, but couldn’t we have just used the bodywash from the bathroom?”

“Oh, yeah. I’d forgotten about that,” Shigure replied, playfully sticking out her tongue with a wink. “Sorry, Big Bro.”

That teasing expression again—she’d definitely done that on purpose.

Man, that was a close one.

I’d almost bought into my glaringly virginal delusions. We pathetic sexless peasants needed to know our place in the social hierarchy.

That little temptress would never make the same face as Haruka anyway. After all, my girlfriend made that expression because she loved me. Without a doubt, what I’d seen earlier had been an illusion of the setting sun. Yes, it had all just been an illusion, and nothing more.