When Haruaki reached out and pushed the door, finding it unlocked, he realized his sisters were already home. So he gave up on fishing his keys out of his bag.
The light above the entryway glowed with a gentle amber hue, like the last light of dusk. It filled the small space with warmth, welcoming home its weary owner.
While saying so, Haruaki bent down to pull out a pair of guest slippers from the shoe cabinet, turning to explain to Nogami before she had the chance to wrinkle her nose.
"We don’t get many guests, so these slippers have pretty much been sitting unused..."
"You think I’m some spoiled princess like Shihou-san?"
She snatched the slippers straight from his hand.
Haruaki blinked, confused.
What did Shihou-san have to do with any of this?
But before he could puzzle it out, Nogami’s gaze happened to fall upon the row of neatly arranged shoes by the entrance, three pairs of girl’s school shoes, all different sizes, lined up side by side.
And in that instant, her shoulders loosened ever so slightly.
So this idiot wasn’t lying, he really did have three younger sisters.
That thought alone was enough to make her feel a bit more at ease.
Even so, for someone who had only ever visited the homes of her two friends, Sae and Minako, this was new territory. Especially stepping into the house of a boy.
It was impossible not to feel awkward.
Just a stupid Hoshikawa, she told herself. Don’t get nervous.
Nogami had just managed to calm her heartbeat when,
Lively footsteps came running down the hall.
"Hey, baka Aniki! Didn’t you say on LINE you were cooking dinner yourself tonight? What, "
"What excuse could you possibly have this time? Don’t tell me you met another cute stray cat? Lame!"
"Haah? What else do you have to say for yourself? I’ve already got the rice going."
Only when Haruaki’s increasingly frantic gestures caught her attention did Ayaka finally notice the unfamiliar girl standing behind him.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Her big brother actually brought a girl home?
"S-sorry to intrude..."
Nogami bowed slightly, feeling the weight of Ayaka’s stare on her. But instead of laughing at Haruaki for getting scolded by his little sister, she actually felt relieved.
At least this sister looked like a proper, responsible person. With someone like her around, Haruaki probably couldn’t pull any funny business.
Meanwhile, hearing her older sister’s voice scolding their brother by the door, the youngest of the three, Fuyuno, perked up like a hunter spotting prey.
She crept toward the entryway, eyes gleaming with curiosity,
And the moment she saw her brother standing next to a tall, pretty girl her age, she lit up like fireworks.
"Uwaaah! A real girlfriend?! Haruaki, no way! Did you hold hands? Did you kiss? Did you, "
"Didn’t do that. Not tonight either. And I don’t need you buying condoms from the convenience store, getting mistaken for a pervy elementary schooler, and dragged off for moral re-education. Also, no, I don’t need your advice for what to do if it goes soft halfway."
"So you did hold hands and kiss!"
Why was it that Fuyuno could always find the most ridiculous angles in a conversation?
"Nice to meet you. I’m Nogami, Nogami Izumi. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Seeing Haruaki already backed into a corner by his nosy little sister, Nogami quickly stepped forward, offering a polite greeting to steer the topic away.
Even if that kiss had been her idea, there was no way she was letting anyone, especially his sister, find out about it.
"Good evening, Nogami-san! I’m Hoshikawa Fuyuno, Haruaki’s youngest sister! It’s nice to meet you!"
And then, with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, Fuyuno leaned in again.
"So... what’s your relationship with my brother?"
Both answered at once, and the instant their eyes met, Haruaki found himself pinned by Nogami’s murderous glare.
"She’s my girlfriend."
"We’re just classmates."
...Was this bastard trying to embarrass her on purpose?! The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽
Grinding her teeth, Nogami forced herself to stay composed.
Her upbringing hadn’t exactly corrected her bad temper or twisted worldview, but as the only daughter of a prestigious family, etiquette was something she could never let slip.
Her father often introduced her as his precious jewel at social gatherings, with friends, colleagues, even business partners. So she had been trained to perfection in manners, rivaling even someone like Shihou.
As long as she kept her real nature hidden, at least.
Even now, though her gaze remained sharp, her poise and confidence gave her an aura of refinement, a genuine highborn young lady.
"So you’re just missing one thin layer then, huh?"
Fuyuno grinned and nudged her brother’s side with her elbow.
Before she could stop herself, Nogami’s hand darted out and pinched Haruaki’s waist, hard.
As expected, the brother was a hopeless blabbermouth, and the sister was completely out of control!
Compared to those two, it was clearly Ayaka, the one who smacked Fuyuno on the head and kept apologizing to their guest, who looked more like the real head of the household.
Meanwhile, Haruaki could only sigh in agony.
This was injustice, pure and simple.
In nearly a month since his “second chance at life,” he’d barely talked to Fuyuno a handful of times, far less than with Ayaka. And even in those few chats, he’d already noticed something off about her... but who knew she’d turn out to be this much of a little devil?!
No wonder Ayaka made time every week to visit the middle school next door just to keep an eye on her.
After asking his sisters to help entertain their guest, Haruaki set down his bag, washed his face, tied on his apron, and headed to the kitchen to finish dinner.
He’d been planning tonight’s meal for days, ever since the end of the semester’s first exams. He’d made several supermarket runs for ingredients, and even used GPS to hunt down a Chinese grocery store for specific seasonings.
The ingredients weren’t the hard part, the real challenge was flavor.
He wasn’t going for authentic Chinese cuisine, but rather a lightly adapted version to suit his sisters’ tastes.
Personally, Haruaki didn’t mind much, he could eat just about anything except extremely spicy or strong anise flavors. So, his plan was to tailor the dishes to his sisters.
Fuyuno liked sweet-and-sour flavors, so sweet and sour pork it was.
Chiaki, surprisingly, preferred spicy dishes, despite her quiet, reserved personality, so mapo tofu for her.
And Ayaka wanted something light and vegetarian.
(Harutaki may have noticed her sneakily pinching her waistline in front of the mirror... but he was far too smart to say anything.)
In the end, tonight’s Hoshikawa family dinner menu looked :
Sweet and sour pork, mapo tofu, stir-fried yam with vinegar, chilled celery and peanuts as an appetizer, mushroom soup with enoki and shimeji, and plain white rice as the staple.
As the pork strips soaked in their marinade of rice wine, ginger, and egg whites, Haruaki set a pot of water to boil. He chopped the celery Ayaka had washed earlier, blanched it, cooled it, then mixed it with vinegar-marinated peanuts from the fridge, first dish done.
While the meat finished marinating, he washed and sliced the yam and carrots, tossed them in a sizzling wok with the aromatics, added his pre-mixed sauce of salt, sugar, and vinegar, and pulled it off the heat just as the color brightened.
Mapo tofu, of course, had to be done last, it needed to be spicy, numbing, and piping hot.
From the hallway corner, Ayaka peeked in quietly.
She hadn’t meant to pry, but she couldn’t help checking if her brother needed help.
Yet watching him move smoothly around the kitchen, cutting, stirring, seasoning with easy precision, she realized there was nothing for her to do.
He really wasn’t the same brother anymore.
Not just his knife work, even the idea of him cooking dinner for his sisters would’ve been unthinkable before.
And though she should’ve felt conflicted, after all, the brother they once knew was gone, there wasn’t much sadness in her heart.
If anything, there was a strange, cold sense of relief.
Maybe their bond with the old Haruaki had already ended long ago.
No affection. No warmth.
And yet... maybe this wasn’t so bad.
Because standing there now, was a brother who could finally care for them, protect them, and love them properly.
A brother unfamiliar in reality, but somehow... the very same one they’d always wished for in their dreams.