After the tour ended, I had a bad feeling about the situation, so I activated [Invisible Body] and followed the woman from a distance.
“Damn. I lost her.”
A car had passed between us, and in that brief moment, she vanished from sight. I tried to ignore the lingering sense of unease and turn back, when—
“P-please, save me... Aaaagh!”
At the sound of a man screaming in the distance, I ran toward the source as fast as I could.
“Wh... what is... this...”
It was a sight I couldn't believe even as I looked at it. Blood was splattered across the alley walls and floor, and in the center of the carnage stood the woman.
“Oh my, you found me~”
The woman—no, the spirit in front of me—spoke, but my mind had gone blank. I could only stand there, frozen in place.
“Well, I guess I have no choice~”
With those words, a white hand rose from beneath the spirit’s feet and dragged me violently into the shadows.
“Thank you for the meal~”
That was the last thing I heard.
*****
Itsuka Shido was on his way home with Tohka after grocery shopping.
“Shido, are we having hamburger steak for dinner today?”
“[Ah! I’m voting for that too!]”
He walked along, laughing off Tohka’s excitement and Kotori’s voice over the intercom, when a girl suddenly appeared in front of him.
“Huh?”
“Tobiichi... no, as the older sister told me...”
“Do you know her?”
At his question, Tohka shook her head. While he was wondering who she could be, the girl suddenly rushed toward him.
“Oh...”
“Oh?”
[Oh?]
“Big brother!!!”
[“Huh?!”]
Everyone listening was shocked as the girl threw herself at him, calling him her big brother. The girl introduced herself as Takamiya Mana and explained that she had been curious about where he lived now, which was why she had been following him.
“So this is where you live now, big brother!”
Even after reaching the house, Mana continued to speak with boundless energy. Shido and Tohka were completely flustered as they opened the front door.
“Are you the lady of the house? Our big brother really owes you a lot!”
Once inside, Mana cheerfully greeted Kotori. Kotori accepted the handshake with a sour expression, while Tohka, Yoshino, and Yoshinon watched the scene from the sofa behind them.
“Wow, I’m surprised. I never knew Shido had another little sister.”
“『Not a hidden child, but a hidden little sister~? Not bad~!』”
“Anyone hearing that would get the wrong idea! Anyway, what are you guys doing here?”
“Um, well, I’m sorry...”
At Yoshino’s hesitant words, Shido waved it off, assuring her it was fine, before sitting in a chair to talk with Mana.
“Still, she really does look like you~!”
As Yoshinon noted, Mana looked exactly like Shido. If Shido had been born a girl, he likely would have looked just like her; the resemblance was uncanny.
“Of course! She’s my little sister!”
“That’s weird. I’m Shido’s little sister too.”
“Huh? Then are you the older sister?”
“No, I’m not!!! Shido was adopted into the Itsuka family a long time ago! I’m his stepsister!”
At Kotori’s explanation, Mana nodded as if she understood.
“Anyway, Mana. Can I ask you something?”
“Yes! What is it, big brother!”
“I’m sorry... I don’t remember you...”
At Shido’s admission, Mana replied that it was only natural, as she didn’t remember her own childhood either. This caused both Shido and Kotori to stare in surprise, questioning what she meant by “childhood.”
“I remember the last two or three years, but before that, not really...”
“Then how do you know Shido is your brother?”
In response to Kotori’s question, Mana opened the locket hanging around her neck. Inside was a photograph of a young boy who looked like Shido and a young girl who looked like Mana, smiling happily together.
“Is this me?”
“Did you mistake me for someone else?”
“No! Big brother is big brother!”
Mana stated it as if it were an absolute fact, then, claiming she had been worried, threw herself at Shido again. Seeing this, Kotori promptly kicked him.
“Ghk!”
“What are you doing!”
“Why me?!”
Ignoring Shido’s aggrieved cry, Kotori answered Mana.
“Shido is family! You can’t just show up now and take him away!”
“I have no intention of doing that. As long as big brother is happy, that’s enough for me. Besides, he already has such a cute little sister here.”
At Mana’s words, Kotori realized she had misunderstood and looked away.
“W-what. So you do get it.”
“Of course. Though, I couldn’t beat my real little sister.”
At that single line, Kotori raised an eyebrow.
“Heh~ Is that so?”
“Well, yes. Blood is thicker than water.”
“Still, isn’t a close neighbor better than a distant relative?”
This time, it was Mana’s eyebrow that went up.
“No, no. A stepsister is basically a stranger, right? But a real little sister is someone you share blood with.”
“You didn’t need to emphasize that part!”
As the two continued to bicker, Shido broke out in a cold sweat, while Yoshinon whispered dirty jokes to a confused Tohka.
“What do you mean, blood relation! A real little sister can’t even get married!”
The heated atmosphere instantly cooled at Kotori’s outburst. Realizing how embarrassing that sounded, Kotori blushed but pushed forward.
“A-anyway, I’m the little sister right now!”
“The real little sister is stronger!”
“That has nothing to do with being a little sister anymore!”
“W-wait, calm down.”
Shido stepped between them to defuse the situation before things escalated further, but—
“Shido, you—”
“—real little sister or stepsister. Which one is it?!”
He had been handed a social landmine. While Shido was panicking over the impossible choice, the door opened and a man walked in.
“Huh? The mansion was empty, so I came here, but everyone’s already here?”
It was a man with red hair and blue eyes: Higakieta Hai. Seeing him, Shido looked at him as if he were a savior and immediately passed the burden onto him.
“H-Hieta! What do you think?!”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, Hiki! Which is it, real little sister or stepsister!”
At Kotori’s demand, Hieta thought for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“...A profound question. If I had to choose, I’d choose death.”
“Hey! Don’t try to brush it off—answer properly!”
Kotori shouted, unhappy with the evasion. Then came the shocking reply.
“I don’t have a family.”
Another bomb went off. Kotori apologized to Hieta with a guilty expression, and Shido did the same. Mana, the only one who didn't know Hieta, looked troubled and hesitated.
“Still, I’ve been curious since earlier. Who is that person?”
Shido explained everything that had happened so far, including why he had tried to use Hieta as a shield for the question.
“So you saw me as an escape route?”
“N-no, that’s not it... Ah, right! Mana! Where do you live now?”
Seeing Shido deliberately change the subject, Hieta let out a long sigh and listened quietly.
“I’ll come again later!”
Mana seemed unable to answer Shido’s question; she simply opened the door and left. While everyone wondered about her sudden departure, Yoshinon asked Hieta,
“『By the way, Hieta-kun~ what were you doing until now~?』”
“Ah, I just had a little business to take care of.”
Hieta answered vaguely. To understand why Hieta had arrived so late, we must go back in time.
*****
“Oh, the inside is cleaner than I expected.”
That was my first thought the moment I opened my eyes after being swallowed by the shadows. It really was clean—just a vast, dark space with absolutely nothing in it.
“So, how do I get out of here...”
As I stood there pondering, a voice drifted from behind me.
“My, how is there someone other than ‘me’ here~?”
It was definitely the woman's voice. When I turned around, I saw a girl who looked like her, yet was somehow different.
“Oh? Aren’t you the knight~?”
She seemed to know me. I immediately went on guard and equipped my armor.
“No need to be so wary~ Besides, ‘I’ really am stupid~ I mixed up the spaces and put you in here instead.”
I couldn't make head or tail of her words, so I remained silent and kept my guard up. The woman looked at me with a deeply disappointed expression.
“Since things have turned out like this, I guess it’s fate~ I’ll help you get out just this once~”
She grabbed my hand and began pulling me upward. Flustered by the sudden contact, I tried to shake her off, but I had no other way out. Besides, even if she tried to kill me, I wouldn't die, so I decided to just let her do as she pleased.
With the help of this other version of the woman, I escaped that strange dimension. When I turned back to thank her, she had already vanished.
“What was that? Did I just dream it?”
I’d encountered plenty of weird situations so far, but this was a first. I put my armor back into my inventory, scratched the back of my head, and headed for the mansion.
“What the heck, why is nobody here?”
The mansion was empty, so I went to Shido's house and opened the door, only to find everyone gathered inside.
“Huh? The mansion was empty, so I came here, but everyone’s here?”
Every eye in the room turned toward me. Then, Shido pointed at me and yelled,
“H-Hieta! What do you think?!”
What the hell is going on here?
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