Gimai Seikatsu's

prologues

I can state this with confidence because I have experienced it myself: a stepbrother is no different from a stranger.

For a teenage boy who was in the 2nd grade of High School, it was undoubtedly the greatest misfortune, and for a family, the greatest blessing. For example, look at the relationship between bloodless siblings in manga, light novels, and games. With that as a benchmark, the younger brother becomes the heroine candidate of the protagonist, and they end up in a relationship. If you believe in such logic, you will definitely go through a lot of pain and suffering, and in the end, you are only told 'Protect your little sister', accept the role like the protagonist.

But reality is always different. If you're asking what distinguishes an imaginary half-sister from a half-sister from reality, let me give you an example. Imagine me coming home from odd jobs, then passing by a stepbrother sitting on the living room couch sipping hot chocolate. Our conversation will happen like this…

“Welcome back, Asamura-kun.”

“I'm home, Ayase-san.”

It's just arrived. Do you understand now? There is no 'Onii-chan ~' word that sounds cute and adorable, nor does a sentence of judes and tsun-tsun sound like 'Huh? Can't you not talk to me, you fucking brother? '. A flat conversation like this earth, was really no different from greeting a passerby and nothing more. We both just live in reality, not going too far, or vice versa.

There was no incident that made me frown, flirt, or respect, there was no such thing between me and my step-sister. After living apart for 17 years, being suddenly told that you will be a family from tomorrow, there are actually no special feelings or strange feelings. If anything, the level of familiarity of two people who happen to be classmates for two years might be higher than ours.

My name is Asamura Yuuta. I'm an ordinary 17-year-old, sitting in 2nd grade High School. If someone asks me why I can get a stepbrother at this age, it's because my dad is too 'excited' for someone at his age. I could only honor her from the bottom of my heart to remarry at her middle age.

When I was self-conscious and thought as a child, I watched my parents fight most of the day. So when I heard that they were getting a divorce, I could only nod. The idiot even apologized to me, saying his inability to take care of the child, even though I knew very well that it was the mother who cheated on him. From that moment on, I went about my daily life without having any great expectations from the girls I had ever known.

The news surprised me so much when I just picked up my bike key and put on a sneaker at the entrance.

“Dad decided to remarry.”

“Hah?”

“The other side is Onee-san who is very tolerant and charming, so you are good with that, right?”

“I can't know what kind of person he is with the depiction that Dad told me.”

“From above, 92, 61, 90.”

“I didn't ask Dad to use math instead ... Think about my feelings, heard about my new mom's 3 body sizes before I met her.”

“You must be happy to get a fashionable mom, yes ‘kan?”

“Not too.”

“Must be…! Never showed any interest in hearing such a description....... are you really a guy? I think something's wrong, what are you really. ”.

“Hey now. Father must have had a bad prejudice on his own son.”

It seems like a lot of people tend to think strangely when I say I don't have any special expectations towards girls, but I can still be excited when I see them, and when I saw a girl in her swimsuit in the pool, I also felt aroused. It's just that, even if you say that, I can't feel any passion for the person who might soon be my new mother, my father's new boyfriend, okay?

“Stay, how could you meet him, you are 40 years old now. At work or what? ”

“He works where I was dragged by my boss. Seeing me heavily drunk and passed out, he paid a lot of attention to me, tau.”

“Didn't you just get cheated then.”.

I don't really want to throw away stereotypes like 'Everybody at night is bad', but when my dad, who has been through a bad thing because of a woman, tells me about this, then I can't exactly hope.

“It's okay ~ Akiko-san isn't like that. Ahahaha!” He said a phrase that only someone who was fooled with confidence would give me a sigh.

But that's as far as I can go.

“If you're happy, I'm happy too. I'll keep doing what I want.”

That is the meaning of not having any hope. Because I had no high hopes for a new life with a new mother, even if I was fooled, ending in misfortune, there was no real sadness or pain.

“No, it won't work this time. You'll get a little sister anyway.”

“Hah? Sister?”

“Yes. She's Akiko-san's daughter. She once showed me her picture, but she was really cute. ”

It seems like they both got married again. I think that's one of the reasons they're attracted to each other.

“This, look. Cute, no? ”

“Yah...emang.”

He excitedly took out his smartphone, showing me a photo. There, I saw a photo of a girl who might be a SD kid. It seemed like he was carrying a translation book from abroad on his lap, probably aimed at children his age. Apparently he was not too comfortable being photographed, as his expression looked a little nervous.

“Congratulations. With this, you will become Onii-chan! ”

“I don't know what you want from me, giving a thumbs up like that ... Well, she must be sweet, so it doesn't feel that bad.”

Getting a half-sister who is my age might be a bit of a hassle to deal with, but if she was still in Elementary School age, I guess everything would be fine. And no, I'm not a lolicon. I was just relieved that I didn't need to care about her too much because she was so far away from me. I think she's sweet, but then again, I'm not a lolicon.

“And we want to meet today at 9 p.m. Can you come see us after work? ”

“This is too sudden..”.

“Yah actually... I want to tell you, but I've had a chance, so it's been a month, and ..

“There must be a limit to how long you can postpone it!”

“I have no excuses, haha ..”

He is such a man. Not reliable at all, but gullible enough to blindly trust people. How could I not be worried?

“I understand, I'll be there. Better be grateful that I'm not a delinquent who's been out all night.”

“I never worry about that. I have full trust in you.”

Seriously, how can you trust others so easily.

A new mother, a new sister, a new family. These words filled my head, as I spent time doing my odd job, while being instructed by my Senpai (the beautiful one). According to Devora Zack*, multitasking is the pinnacle of stupidity, and by focusing on just one thing, you will achieve results. Therefore, I only focused on my first contact with my supposedly new little sister, which is why I messed up a few times at work, scolded by my Senpai. He was the one who recommended the book to me. (TN : 2015 book titled ‘'Singletasking: Get More Done - One Thing at a Time')

Therefore, when my shift ended, my Senpai patted me on the shoulder energetically saying 'Catch them, Onii-chan!', making me realize that she is indeed the type of person who likes to jail and flirt.

The night came to Shibuya. It took me a few minutes to reach Dougenzaka by bike from my odd job, and I finally made it to the family restaurant my father was talking about. During these times, the area would always be very crowded, and several groups of women were already standing in front of the building. Judging from their words, they seemed to complain about the girlfriend they were currently dating.

Her clothes suck, she doesn't know how to treat a woman — said one woman, her tanned body while wearing flashy clothes, her hair avant-garde style. Um, Madam? You look just as lousy when you ask me, or what if you tell your boyfriend in person?

But well, telling her that it would be of no use, so I snuck past her, and checked LINE's message to look for a seat. I would rather not get too close to such a flashy type of person, let alone their high expectations of others. From now on, I'll meet my SD sister. Again, I'm not a lolicon. I'll just make sure that he doesn't grow up to be like that.

“Hei, Yuuta! Over here.”

My father most likely saw me looking around the inside of the building, as he called out to me with his hands raised. Feeling awkward because now that half of the other customers were looking at me, I immediately walked to the table.

—The uncomfortable feeling that stuck in this heart has already emerged from there.

The more I walked forward, the greater this feeling grew, and by the time I stood by my father's desk to look at my new family's face well, this feeling had grown exponentially, she said, it bloomed into a beautiful flower shortly thereafter. Excuse me, but what's going on here?

“Ti-No, it's okay. I am Asamura Yuuta. So you are..”

“Ya, my name is Ayase Akiko. Fufu, I've heard a lot about you from Taichi-san, but you really look like a reliable man. ”

The woman — who named herself Ayase Akiko — called me the confused one, and showed a gentle smile as she mentioned my father's name. From her expression and gaze, I felt the charm of a mature woman. He was basically just like my parents described him. At first I thought he was the kind of person who roamed the city at night. But, Akiko-san doesn't feel that way.

But that doesn't matter now. The reason I stammered this way was because the person who stole my gaze and attention, was sitting next to Akiko-san. I can see similarities to the people in the picture, really. She's probably the girl who's gonna be my new little sister. Because of that, he looked completely different from what I had imagined.

“Come, introduce yourself ~”

“Good.”

Encouraged by her mother, the girl, who had a tall stature, long and almost glittering blonde hair, with a silver piercing in her ear, showed me a strange smile.

“It's nice to meet you. My name is Ayase Saki. ”

“Eh, ah, yes. I am Asamura Yuuta. ”

He gave a polite greeting, slightly bowing his head towards me.

—Why is it different from the photo I saw?

I can definitely see the resemblance. If someone tells me that this is the same SD girl I saw in the photo, I agree. However, only if one added that this was his appearance ten years ago. Being too flabbergasted, I looked towards Ayase Saki who was in front of me. Sd boy? SD hankymu, obviously she's a high school girl.

She styled her hair in a fashionable style, but her own hair color was quite striking, with accessories on her wrists, around her neck, as well as piercings on her ears. The clothes are not very sexy, but it is enough to show one shoulder open. Because of the light inside the restaurant, it's hard to tell, but I think the makeup might be appropriate as well.

In short, she looked like a stylish girl, a member of the extroverted world that I thought I would never experience. However, the manner of behaving and greeting me made her seem like an adult with sufficient common sense, which only increased the sense of discomfort that was plaguing my day. For now, I decided to sit next to my father, and question him about this.

“Hey, it's not like I heard, you know?”

“I mean, this is also the first time I met him. I only know through photos.”

“No matter how I look at it, she must be about the same age as me.”

“Indeed. She is 17 years old this, class 2 SMA.”

“And you called her my little sister?”

“Stay your year a week before him.”

“Sunday.”.

Just a week? But most importantly, we are the same age. In my head, the image of a cute half-sister, which I had no need to think about anymore, was smashed into pieces.

“I'm sorry you guys got confused. Saki doesn't want her to be photographed after she grows up, so I only have an old photo of ~ ” After guessing or most likely hearing my conversation with my father, Akiko-san put one hand on her cheek, and glanced at his daughter.

Because I'm not a fan of selfies, I can really support it. But what I don't understand is Akiko-san. Why did he show a picture of his daughter who was still in SD to my father?

“I've often been told that I have a keen eye view, so being photographed feels a bit uncomfortable.”

“H-Huh, is that so."

Saki — Ayase-san showed a troubled smile, but to me, she looks like a pretty girl judged by everyone in this world. It makes sense that it was me, a man so normal that you could find me anywhere, but I don't really see any reason why he doesn't like to be photographed. Even so, it was just my personal opinion, so I kept quiet about it. I don't want to force my opinion on him.

“But, I feel relieved.” Ayase-san placed one hand on her chest.

“About what?” I asked back.

“I'm a little worried that you're a scary person.”

“Hmm, who knows? In my opinion, a very scary person is a person putting on a soft face.”

“I've just heard a lot from Taichi-san. You work part-time to earn money for university entrance fees, right? I thought you were an industrious man.”

“Even not ten minutes ago, I was scolded by Senpai at work for messing up again.”

“How about getting good value?”

“There are a lot of smart criminals out there.”

“Ahaha.” Ayase-san covered her mouth with her fingers, and laughed knotfully.

Our parents observed this short conversation, and showed their own relieved smiles. It seems like the first contact with my future half-brother went well. The simulation I imagined was very much different from reality, but I think I did well given the situation. With this, we should be able to get a little more familiar.

We spent until about 10pm talking about things and future plans, and then decided to disband because the next day had to start early. My father and Akiko-san wanted to finish one round to the toilet immediately, so Ayase-san and I left the restaurant early, waiting for them.

Even late into the night, Dougenzaka was still full of crowds. Looking at the drunken men and women who were making loud noises around us, I glanced at the 'girl sister' standing beside me. Due to his striking outer appearance, he was very similar to the people walking around Shibuya at the moment. She was a 'girl' that I would never normally approach. But, judging from the conversation earlier in the family restaurant, he seemed to be much smarter than he had shown before.

The outer appearance was still only the outer appearance. They have nothing to do with personality and etiquette. It's even better if I can explain it in such simple words. However, that was not the only reason I felt comfortable being around him. There's something hard to explain—

“Hey, Asamura-kun, there is something I want to talk about before our parents return.”

“Something you can't talk about in front of them?”

“True. This is something I can only tell you.”

“Indeed I managed to build this much trust after that short conversation? Am I really that amazing? ”

“From sense of humor, manner of speaking, expression, I do not feel strong emotions. That's why, I think you'll understand what I want to say.”

“Ahhh..”.

That makes sense. Basically, he's the same type as me. That's why I feel something's wrong. Come to think of it, the words he spoke to me back then might have led to a defining definition of the brother-sister relationship between us.

“I don't have great expectations of you, so I want you to do the same for me.”

You can certainly understand the point, right? - He added. His eyes were glued to my eyes, as he waited for my answer. Of course, my answer was already decided. To others, this might sound like a cold rejection, but to me, it shows the type of attitude of someone I value the most.

“This may be the first for me.” I said with a smile.

“Yup, I'm also the same.” The reply.

“Then, let's continue with that attitude, Ayase-san.”

“Thank you, Asamura-kun.” Then, the relationship between myself and my new stepbrother began.

End Prologue...