My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

"What do you mean, 'so' or 'not so'..."

My stepson, Irito Mizuto, wore a look of unspeakable suffering.

...Oh, I see. So you feel uncomfortable even talking to me about business, right? Very well.

"What should we eat for dinner?"

"Don't talk like the responsibility is on me. I'm not your mother."

"I know. I only came to talk to you because we're going to eat at the same table, okay? I can't stand that I can't get to the point when I talk to you."

...It's as if I'm slow to react.

I've changed a lot, okay? I'm much better than when I first met you.

The stepson, who was so thin he looked like a bean sprout growing in the shade, had an even fiercer look in his already unfriendly eyes and stomped his toes on the ground in frustration.

Although his messy hair and baggy clothes ruined everything, the only thing about this guy was that his facial features were perfectly proportioned, like they were drawn on. This made his usually unlikable and irritating attitude actually seem quite stylish, which only made me more annoyed.

"Then I'll just cook whatever I want for dinner, whatever I decide, is that okay?"

"You said you wanted to cook... You can cook?"

"I know a little bit, because it's always just my dad and me, the two men in the family. As for you—oh."

Mizuto chuckled, a disdainful smile on his face.

This guy clearly knows I can't cook. He once ate all the bento boxes I made that looked like industrial waste, and then lied to me by saying they were "delicious."

"Alright, since we're family now, I can do you a favor. Just eat with gratitude, like a pig eating my cooking."

One day I will definitely kill this man.

I sealed away the murderous intent that could erupt at any moment in my heart and tried my best to show the kindest smile.

"I can't accept this, Mizuto. I can't leave everything to you alone, so let me help out too."

"No need. If you go and make your hands covered in bandages again, I'll just find it too much trouble."

"I'm telling you, I'm not happy about accepting your charity unilaterally, you cold-blooded man."

"You cold-blooded woman have no right to talk to me like that—enough already."

Mizuto deliberately sighed for me to see. "You think you're cool like that? I suggest you just die already."

"Then, let's go."

"……Walk?"

Where to? I tilted my head.

"Of course I'm going to buy groceries for dinner—do you think you can cook with air?"

This is absolutely outrageous.

Why did I end up at the supermarket with my ex-boyfriend, whom I broke up with less than a month ago?

Wouldn't that make them no different from newlyweds or couples living together?

"Uh—oh! This is so cheap."

While I was worrying about these issues, my ex-boyfriend was right next to me, tossing items into a shopping cart one by one.

Is this man completely oblivious to the current situation? How insensitive is he—or rather, how little does he see me as a woman? ...No, okay, I'm not really a woman, and he's not really a man. I'm the older sister, and he's the younger brother.

No, this won't do. If we continue like this, we'll repeat the same mistakes. I'll be the only one wasting my effort, the only one who will suffer.

You need to keep a calm mind.

"...You seem to be just grabbing whatever you want to buy. What are you actually planning to cook?"

"Hmm—? I don't know either."

"Huh... what do you mean you don't know? Weren't you going to buy groceries and cook?"

"So, the best approach is to buy whatever vegetables are cheap and then decide what to cook, right? If you decide what to cook beforehand, then you'll end up buying vegetables that have gone up in price too."

"That makes sense."

I couldn't help but think he had a point.

This is perhaps what is called the wisdom of life... I never expected that this man would have such a talent as the ability to survive.

What's wrong with this guy? Can he not be so versatile?

"Even if you can't think of anything, the worst that can happen is to just throw everything into a pot with curry cubes, and it'll basically become curry. Sis, you need to really understand the difference between 'cooking' and 'making rice'."

"Who's your sister? I've already told you I'm the older sister."

"Yes, yes, yes."

The more I listened to him, the more embarrassed I felt about making him eat such a terrible bento box. How awful...

"Well, it might be cute if your cooking is bad sometimes, but you can't stand eating it every day. You should really work on improving it."

Mizuto's nonchalant remark caused my body and mind to suddenly freeze.

...Are you cute?

This guy is just spouting nonsense again—no, but what he just said sounded like it came out without thinking, or maybe it was his true feelings—

"...What's wrong? I'm not waiting for you."

Without realizing it, I found myself standing in the middle of the aisle, lost in thought. I quickly caught up with Shuidou, shaking my head to clear my mind.

Seriously, if things continue like this, we'll repeat the same mistakes. It's so unfair that I'm the only one overthinking things while this guy continues to live a carefree life.

...I need to get his attention.

I want to make his face, which I hate just looking at, turn red as if it's covered in blood.

And this time, I'm going to make this guy call me "sister"!

Reluctantly, I stood side by side with him in the kitchen cooking curry, and that's how we finished dinner.

Although Shuidou saw me holding the kitchen knife and said, "Wait a minute, it scares me! Your fingers should be like this, like this!" which led to the accidental incident of him touching my hand without my permission, everything was generally fine. Since neither of our parents were around, we didn't need to pretend to be close siblings, so it was actually quite relaxing.

"The bathwater is ready, who wants to shower first?"

"I'll go first."

"I knew you'd say that."

"Because I don't want to soak in the bathwater you've already used."

"Is it okay if I soak in the bathwater you've already used?"

"...I'll just wash it later!"

Because my mother and the others were there before, I never thought about this issue, but thinking about it carefully, I realize that I actually take the same bathtub with this man every day.

That wouldn't be... wouldn't be... a little... you know...!

...I need to calm down.

That's perfect. I need to use the time I spend taking a shower to refresh myself.

This is to prepare for a comeback later.

"I'm done washing."

Just as I was playing the locked-room murder mystery game (a thought game I designed. Imagine that Shuidou is murdered in a locked room, and then try to think of all the possible methods) to achieve mental focus, less than ten minutes later, Shuidou came back with wet hair.

“Ugh…”

"Um?"

...No matter who it is, wet hair always looks kind of handsome. In other words, it's just a common phenomenon and doesn't have any special significance.

"...Did you wash too quickly? Is it clean? It's very dirty."

"Please don't start swearing before I even answer, okay? I did shower, I just thought taking a bath was a waste of time."

You're so impatient... I just hate places like this. You were at least trying to keep up with my pace at first.

In short, the time has come.

I cleared away the secret chamber and the corpse in the water bucket from my mind and stood up.

"Well, I'm going to take a shower... If you dare to peep on me, I'll kill you."

"I won't even wait for you to kill me; I'll die from my eyes rotting first."

...Let's see if you can still say such things later.

For safety's sake, I kept glancing at the door to stay alert while I took off my clothes in the changing room and went in to take a shower.

I didn't think much of it when my mom and the others were there, but... I'm naked in a house with that man in it right now... If that man were to burst into the bathroom right now, I could scream my lungs out and no one would come to my rescue...

"........."

...I don't think that skinny monkey would do such a thing, but if it really happened, I would definitely bite off a bunch of his parts.

After taking a thorough shower and warming myself up, I came out of the bathroom. Then I wrapped my naked body in a dry towel and used a hairdryer to dry my hair.

...Now comes the important part.

I gripped the knot in the bath towel tightly.

—I didn't bring any clothes to the changing room to change.

This was to deliberately cut off my own escape route—I was determined to use my do-or-die spirit to crush that man's calm and clear face.

That's right. Since I didn't bring any clothes to change into, I had no choice but to appear in front of that man wrapped only in a bath towel!

“…………”

In the mirror, my body has become much more feminine compared to when I was dating that man. Especially my breasts, which have grown dramatically in the past year—my mother and classmates are envious of me.

My exposed chest, flushed and slightly hot from just having showered, looked rather alluring even to me—and I actually let that man see me like this…

I started to regret it a little; at least I should have brought some underwear. But I figured I had to go to such lengths to move that wooden man's heart.

"……good."

After making up my mind, I walked out of the locker room.

I walked back to the living room barefoot.

"I...I'm done washing."

"Hmm—cough, puff, hoo!"

As soon as Mizuto saw me, he spat out the tea he was drinking and coughed incessantly.

An unexpected reaction!

I turned my face away, hiding the expression that I almost burst out laughing.

"Why...?"

"What's so strange about me doing this in my own home?"

I tried to answer in a calm tone and sat down diagonally in front of the L-shaped sofa where Shuidou was sitting.

Mizuto turned his face in a completely different direction while stealing glances at me several times.

"No, but... at least I'm here..."

"So what if I have brothers around?...Does that mean...?"

I smiled and winked at the bewildered-looking Shui Dou.

"—Mizuto-kun, are you the kind of bad kid who looks down on ordinary step-sisters with evil eyes?"

“Hmm…!”

Hahahaha!

You blushed, you blushed! You deserved it!

Although Mizuto turned his face away to get me out of sight, his eyes kept looking at me, and I could feel his gaze. His gaze kept sneaking peeks at my chest or thighs that were exposed outside the towel.

Hmph, isn't that a bit too provocative? After all, you only know the little me from before! Ah, how pitiful, because you've only dated women with childlike figures, so you must not be used to being with a mature woman like me! Who are you calling a childlike figure?

Okay, let me try crossing my other leg.

“…………!”