Days With My Step Sister Volume 6

“…”

My old man was at a loss for words. He probably didn’t want to speak for his
own son. I think it’s this genuine care and seriousness that didn’t make him a
good fit with my mother, and that’s what brought him and Akiko-san
together. That’s what I think, at least. I remembered his straightforward
response to grandfather just now, and spoke up through the sliding door. The
argument inside the hall stopped. I named myself and stepped in front of
grandfather.

“I have absolutely no complaints about Dad’s remarriage with Akiko-san.” I
declared.

“Yuuta…”

“And this also goes for Saki.”

I couldn’t afford to call her “Ayase-san” right now. I needed to set her on the
stage as a single individual—and that I accepted her into my family.

“She’s not the type of person you see her as, Grandpa. She may have a hard
time interacting with people at times, but I’m the same way. Saki is kind,
sincere, and a truly hard-working person.”

“Yuuta…” My old man looked at me with dampened eyes.

And now, my grandmother chimed in.

“Gintarou-san, don’t you remember what Takumi said? He taught Saki-san
how to play that whatsit game because she was so bad at it, but she was very
earnest about listening to his advice.”

I kept a straight face on the outside but couldn’t stop myself from groaning
mentally.

“It means she was doing her best with the help of someone else, right?”

“W-Well.”

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“Plus, you weren’t exactly the most welcoming when it came to Saki-san
either, remember?”

“Yeah, but with her hair dyed like that—”

“That much is normal nowadays. Did you already forget that Kanae dyed her
hair red a long time ago?”

Receiving this follow-up attack from grandmother, grandfather had nothing
else to say. He probably realized there was no winning this argument.
Meanwhile, grandmother looked at me as she gently narrowed her eyes.
Somehow, I feel itchy all over.

“Yeah, I see… Well, if you are that adamant about it. But to think our docile
Yuuta would go this far…”

“Enough of this then, Gintarou-san?”

“Yeah, I won’t say anything more for now. Yuuta, your birthday has already
passed, right? How old are you?”

“I’m 17 now.”

“I see. Then you’ll be an adult next year… And you could find a wife.”

“A wife… That’s still a bit too early for me.”

“Well, Kousuke brought it up out of nowhere.”

Since I couldn’t comment on that, grandmother came to the rescue.

“Yes, yes, surely. But, that’s enough, Gintarou-san.”

“Yeah. Taichi, let’s drink some more.”

“Erm… I can’t drink that much, I have to drive home tomorrow, remember?”

While the two headed back to the banquet hall, I opted to return to my own
room. I laid down in my futon and reminisced about the incident just now.

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If… if our family found out about my relationship with Ayase-san… Then
even if they won’t accept us here any longer, I just have to stay resolute like
my old man did.

Let’s both do our best—Saki.

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Chapter 14 - January 1st (Friday) –
Ayase Saki

I hurriedly turned off the lights and snuggled up into my futon to pretend that
I was asleep. My heart was racing painfully fast. The sliding screen opened,
and I felt Asamura-kun entering his own futon. Our futons were on opposite
ends of the room, with our parents in the center. It was good enough that we
wouldn’t be too conscious of each other while sleeping in the same room, and
it allowed me to not show my defenseless side to him.

He… didn’t notice, right? My heart beat faster and faster. I felt it thumping
right up to my ears, showing no signs of calming down. My face felt hot.
Even though it was below freezing outside, I felt like I was sweating beneath
my futon. Worried that he might hear me breathing heavily, I pulled the
blanket over my head.

‘Saki is kind, sincere, and… a truly hard-working person.’

That’s what Asamura-kun said. Not to mention that he called me Saki. Not
just Ayase-san, but Saki.

I wanted to go to the toilet, but I realized that Asamura-kun wasn’t sleeping
in his futon yet. However, my drowsy brain didn’t think much about it and
just accepted this as a fact as I left the room. After almost ending up lost in
the large hallway, I made my way back to the room when I heard Asamura-
kun’s voice. I didn’t mean to peek inside, I just went a bit closer to listen.
This allowed me to hear his voice clearly. And without any hesitation, he said
that—That he doesn’t have any complaints when it comes to Mom’s marriage
with Stepdad.

And not just that, he even protected me. I don’t know what led to him saying

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that, but—I didn’t expect him to praise me and call me kind, sincere, and
hard-working. I was worried if I could even live up to these expectations. I
was happy, but at the same time I was scared. I don’t know what it means to
be liked. I haven’t done anything to make other people like me. I’ve kept my
armament to block off anyone who’s tried to approach or attack me in any
way.

But, when there was a person I wanted to get along with, I had no armament
or equipment that would allow me to do so. I’ve just been doing everything in
my power to be able to live all by myself without the help of anybody else. I
never saw any need to get along with people. But all of that came crashing
down half a year ago. I won’t have any great expectations from you, so I
want you to do the same for me.

When I said these words to Asamura-kun half a year ago, I never would have
imagined that he would come to like me. On the contrary, the only reason I
wanted to get along with Stepdad was so that Mom could finally be happy.
But to my surprise, Asamura-kun not only accepted this contract of us
adjusting to each other, he even took the time to always talk things through
with me.

At some point, I fell in love with him, and I even began seeing Stepdad as not
just the person Mom married, but as a genuinely caring individual. I began
wanting to care for him because the person I like does the same.

I bet I could have avoided coming here with a well-made excuse. I could
have said that I had to study, said that I had to work, or even just said I
simply didn’t want to. I doubt they would have forced me to come. I agreed
to come because I wanted to. Just as Stepdad said on the way here, there’s no
guarantee we might get another chance to travel together like this, and Mom
said that all of his relatives are genuinely nice people. I want to come to like
the people that the person I cherish also cares for.

However, dealing with relatives I wasn’t even directly related to, let alone
these people who live so far away, was much more difficult than I had
imagined. In a place like this, with relatives from what felt like a foreign
family, adjusting to each other and understanding the other party takes time.
In that case, you need someone to take your side, to act as your shield as they

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enable you to build up a conversation—A shield. And this time, it was
Asamura-kun who did that for me.

Or maybe you could even call a cushion. The same goes for Stepdad, of
course. Thanks to that, my step-grandfather’s gaze towards us should become
a lot softer starting tomorrow. Without his prejudices, it in return makes it
easier for me to interact with him. Of course, that’s all because he acted as
the shield between me and his relatives. Even though I had decided to live
independently and all by myself, I started thinking that I wanted to walk next
to someone—Next to Asamura-kun.

I focused my attention on any sounds outside the room, but nobody was
nearby. Mom and Stepdad are probably busy talking with our relatives. Right
now, it was just Asamura-kun and I in this room. I carefully pulled the
blanket off me and moved towards his futon, gently touching his shoulder.
Touching him without first adjusting to each other isn’t like me. Not to
mention that our parents could see this at any given moment. But even so, I
called out his name, packed with all my feelings.

“Thank you, Yuuta-kun.”

I pushed myself closer to his back until I almost touched him, indulging in
the warmth I felt on my hand, which then passed through my own body. Just
like ice melting away, the reason and logic in my mind lost their shape and
became a twisted unsightly shape like a non-uniform mineral. But even so, I
came to adore this twistedness. And during the few seconds it took until
Asamura-kun woke up in shock and called out my name, which felt like an
eternity to me, I simply indulged in the warmth he gave me.

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Afterword

Thank you very much for buying volume 6 of the novelized [Gimai Seikatsu]
series. I’m the original creator of both the YouTube version and this novel
series, Mikawa Ghost. And this time, I believe I have to bring up the news
that most of you have most likely heard about already. That’s right, I’m
talking about the anime adaptation. The other day, a glorious anime
adaptation for [Gimai Seikatsu] has been announced, with the cast of the
YouTube series being enlisted for the actual anime. There couldn’t be any
better news, don’t you think? I was truly delighted to hear of this decision.
And it’s all thanks to the fans who have supported this series all the way until
now. Thank you so much. It will take quite some time until the broadcast, but
I hope you look forward to it.

Finally, my thanks. My illustrator Hiten-san, voice actors and actresses
Nakashima Yuki-san, Amasaki Kouhei-san, Suzuki Ayu-san, Hamano Daiki-
san, Suzuki Minori-san, video director Ochiai Yuusuke-san, and everyone
else from the YouTube version, as well as my editor O-san, mangaka Kanade
Yumika-san, and everybody else from the publishing and editorial
department, and finally all my dear readers: Thank you very much.

This has been Ghost.

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