Starting early in the morning, Ayase-san was avoiding me. I think she was at least, although I didn't understand as to why. Before I even got to the dining table, Ayase-san had already left, without saying a single thing to me. I don't get it. Last night, the last thing I saw from her was that smile. That moment, I felt like we had been close like never before. The more I thought about it, the less it made any sense.
If it was still raining, we could go to school together, which would allow me to ask her for the reason for this, but naturally, the weather betrayed me, as it was clear outside. Pedaling on my bike, I looked up at the sky, on this 12th day of June. It was almost worryingly blue. Indeed, fine weather during the rainy season, can you believe it.
While pedaling I tried to distract myself with the origin of this very 'fine weather during the rainy season' expression1. If I didn't do so, my head would be full of Ayase-san instead. I didn't even try to slow down on my way to school. I could still see traces of rain on the rows of trees I rode past. The drops of water on the tree branches fell down in a well-timed manner, and hit me in the face. Thanks to that cold sensation, my tired face was slowly waking up as well.
Maybe she's still angry because of the underwear incident yesterday. Thinking about the possibilities of that, I figured that her personality would lead her to directly tell me if she was angry still. Sadly, that made things even more confusing. Pondering about this, I made it to school already. I looked up at the sky again, but couldn't find a single cloud.
If I remember correctly, we had P.E. during the second period…Of course, it's practice for the ball sports festival again. As before, we'd meet at the same location as before, the tennis court. Meaning, I would be running into Ayase-san again.
During the first period, I had modern Japanese, but as you might expect, I couldn't focus in the slightest, and I don't even remember what we even talked about. Eventually, the second period came around, and once everyone was gathered, I directed my attention over at the girls.
"Seryaaaaaaaaaaa!"
As always, Narasaka-san was in top form. So was the ball, as it flew right over onto the neighbouring court.
"Maayaaaaaa!"
"Ohhh, homerun!"
"Idiot!"
I don't remember there being a homerun technique in tennis. But disregarding that, I couldn't find Ayase-san in the group of practicing girls. Instead, she was once again leaning against the metal fence in the corner of the tennis court, earphones equipped. The only difference from before is that she wasn't looking into the void, but rather dwelling in her thoughts about something. With her face down, she had her eyes closed.
Come on, now I'm even more curious. I thought of calling out to her at the end of the class, but Narasaka-san wanted something from me first.
"Hey, Onii-chan."
Are you calling me that at school as well? I felt the urge to throw in that retort, so random was that phrase of hers.
"Did something happen with Saki?"
For a second, I lost any possible words to return. Basically, from her point of view, it was obvious that Ayase-san acted differently from usual.
"No, I don't know anything."
"I see." While crossing her arms, she walked towards the main building.
The girls waiting for her gave me a few glances, but nothing like you might be imagining is going on, okay?
"Hey, Asamura."
"Hm? Ah, Maru."
Turning around, there stood my friend Maru Tomokazu.
"What's with that lifeless response?"
"I'm just exhausted from practice."
"You're not even out of breath, and there's not a single dot of dirt on your clothes either."
"You sure look closely, huh."
Oh yeah, it seemed like Maru was properly doing his softball practice today. I could see dirt and sweat all over his body.
"What're you staring at me for? You suddenly longing for my body or something?"
"I just thought that getting that through the laundry must be a pain."
"Hm, really now. You know, if you paid me 10k, I wouldn't be that hesitant to think about it."
Pay…Eh, wait.
"W-Where did that come from!?"
"I'd do your exhausting day duty for you. From a leak in the ceiling to making a small pupp's hut, I think that's an affordable price, right?"
"Ah, that's what you meant."
"Asamura, what were you thinking?"
Can you really say that now?
"I hate to tell you, but since we live on the third floor of a flat, there's no leak to be fixed, nor do I have any plans of adopting a puppy."
"I see, what a shame. I thought it'd be some early cash."
"Isn't this completely different from what you said before?"
Weren't you the one who told me the importance of knowing society, and knowing the market in order to earn money?
"Calm down aye, Asamura. I said 'Early' cash, you know. Birthday's close after all."
"Whose?"
Ah, he suddenly grew quiet.
"So basically, you're trying to get together some money for someone's birthday present?"
"If we don't hurry, we won't make it in time for the next class." He turned his back towards me, and walked on ahead.
I see, so Maru has someone he wants to spend money on. Maru of all people, imagine that.
In the end, no chance came for me to talk to Ayase-san at school. Of course, I attempted to contact her through LINE, but…
'You seem down, did something happen?'
'Nothing at all'
She didn't even add a sticker (although Ayase-san didn't seem like the person to add some in the first place), and just gave me that blank response. After the final period of the day ended, I headed to my part-time work again. I was teased as always by Yomiuri-senpai, but nothing of importance happened, and I made my way back home again.
I opened the door of the front entrance. The gentle scent of miso soup drifted towards me from the kitchen, tickling my nose. So Ayase-san was home.
"I'm back." I let out a voice, and walked down the hallway.
"Welcome back…Dinner is ready."
I feel like the warmth in her voice is different…Maybe not? Maybe I'm thinking too deeply into it.
"Sashimi today?"
I looked at the table, spotting a blue plate with white garnish on it, as well as the red inner body of a fish, presumably victorfish.
"Yup. Finely chopped."
"Fresh is the best after all."
Seems like we'll be having classical Japanese dinner tonight. The miso soup had half-moon cut potatoes with seaweed in them. I'm sure that'll warm up my body. It was perfect for this rainy season. The small bowl had lots of cucumber as well. While Ayase-san lined up the food on the dining table, I wiped the rest of the table, and prepared some warm tea.
"Thanks for the food!"
I started with the miso soup. I gently stirred up the surface with my chopsticks, and put the corner of the bowl to my mouth. As my nose picked up the scent of it, my lips tasted it.
"Yeah, your miso soup really is delicious, Ayase-san."
"…I see."
"How do I say it, I can taste the soup stock. That really makes it."
"Of course, it's miso soup after all." She said with a slightly bothered tone.
"Not exactly."
It's not like I was never cooking myself. But, I could never create such delicious miso soup before. I couldn't even hope to rival this one. I only found out the reason a bit after I stopped trying to cook, when I happened to read a book. After mixing the miso, you boil it. That's how you create the scent. This scent mainly comes from fermented alcohol. Of course that'd jump when boiling. It's just simple physics. If I had known about this beforehand, I might have kept my interest in cooking as well…
"Now then, let's move on to the main dish tonight."
"What an exaggeration."
"It's not, it looks really delicious."
I put a bit of ginger on the victorfish, and carried a piece between my chopsticks, adding some soy sauce to it. This one piece I then stuffed in my mouth, and carefully chewed on it. The meat had a bit of elasticity, and the more I chewed, the more the taste widened up on my tongue.
"Delicious."
Next, I added some rice to the mix.
"This is great. Ayase-san, you're such a great cook."
"Listen, all I did was cut it…But, thanks. I bought it during a sale, so…"
"Ohh. So you went out of your way to buy it from a sale."
"I want to save as much as possible."
Oh yeah, if I remember correctly, since Ayase-san was made responsible for the cooking, she receives a certain amount of money from my old man. If she aims for sales, she can keep the money to herself, I guess.
There, I remembered something I wanted to ask before. However, thinking back on it, that apparently only acted as a trigger for what was to come later.
"Why are you this keen on saving money?"
Hearing my question, Ayase-san's chopsticks stopped entirely. They wavered above the fish, going back and forth. Of course, I wasn't going to tell her that this was bad manners, as she clearly wasn't confused about what to get, but rather pondering what to say.
"I think I told you about this before, but in order to break free from random strangers' eyes and expectations, I need the strength to live on my own."
"So money is that strength?"
"Am I wrong?"
"No…I don't think you are."
It's a fact that, without money, you can't live your life freely. That being said, money isn't everything. Even I could tell that this was just myopic.
"And yet, I just can't earn enough money." She let out a sigh.
She leaned forward with her head, which led her long hair to fall to the front of her uniform, on top of the apron. She put down her chopsticks, and fixed her hair.
"I'm looking for a high-paying part-time job, but…" I grumbled.
"It's okay, I didn't expect you to find one right away," is what she said, but in the end, I'm the only one benefitting from this, and I can't stand it.
"If there's something you want me to help out more, just let me know. Or, you can cut corners with the cooking."
"I am."
"30 minutes in the morning, and one entire hour at night, you mean?" In the face of my remark, Ayase-san let out a hollow laugh.
"So you realized."
"Everybody would eventually."
Whenever Ayase-san is making food, she's constantly glancing over at the clock. I doubt that's only related to the cooking. There's also the fact that she wanted information on a highly-paid but short part-time job solely for the purpose of having more time to study.
"Anyway, even if I know the recipe, I don't plan on using any more time than necessary. That's plenty of cutting corners." She forcefully created an expression that probably meant to say 'I'm a bad person'.
"Not really."
However, when I said those words, Ayase-san's facial expression changed to something similar to surprise.
"Why?"
"I mean, by constantly repeating something, you get better at it, right? That means that you can do more work at the same time as before, and the quality of what you're doing can go up as well."
"…What about it?"
"Even if you only offer that same one hour, you can create something even better—In this case, you have the chance to make the food even more delicious. In other words, the added value grows. And, since I have an exchange with you, I need to raise my added value. Otherwise, it'd be imbalanced."
"That's…"
"The case, yes. Right now, I don't have anything to give you, Ayase-san. Sooner or later, I won't be able to keep up."
"If you're going to say that, then aren't all families in this world the same? Day after day, the values grow like that."
"Because they are the same, yes."
It's not just cooking. There's laundry, cleaning, sewing. All these 'duties' can make you even more skilled the more you do them. That's why your salary goes up the longer you work at a company. That continues until your work becomes more sloppy and slower as resulted by you aging. The labours in a family are exactly the same.
"My Mom always made food for me all these years, and yet she didn't even get 1 yen back."
"These values don't show until you get to the exchange. Until you outsource the values of the family's hard work, you don't realize. Only when you go for the payout do you understand just how much value it actually has. That's the troublesome idea behind it."
Because I was only reading books related to 'Labour' or 'Earning money', these complicated thoughts and equations kept gushing out of my mouth. If I'm not careful, I might just start assuming that I've become more smart, even though this is just borrowed knowledge.
"You and me, Ayase-san, we made an exchange on cooking and searching for high-pay part-time jobs, right? Now I realized how much the value of your cooking has gone up, which means that I need to find a way to raise my value as well."
Ayase-san stayed quiet, seemingly thinking about something. I couldn't hold back anymore, so I just blurted it out. In my mind, I had a solution, but it wasn't exactly a likable one.
"…The food will get cold, so let's eat. I already let in some hot water for the bath."
"O-Okay."
Before I could remark on that however, I was urged to move my chopsticks instead. The entire time we were eating, Ayase-san seemed like she was lost in thought, not even looking at me. I figure she came up with that unfavorable solution.
I was allowed to take a bath first, and after finishing mine, I let in some fresh hot water. I changed my clothes, and headed back to my room. Out of a whim, I decided to lay down on my bed, and read a book. Of course, I have some homework left to do for school, but there's no reason to panic, as I still have Saturday and Sunday left. Right now, I rather wanted to focus on the light novel with the countless beautiful girls on the cover.
…I thought it was just some ephemeral work, but this is pretty interesting…Although, is there really a need for the protagonist to go out with all of his classmates…And…
"Ouch!"
Lost in my thoughts, I happened to drop the book, which fell directly on my face. In response, I let out a shocked voice. That surprised me.
"Well…Maybe I should just head to bed then…"
Apparently, my body was exhausted. I looked over at the clock, and it wasn't that late yet. Normally my old man would come back at this time, but there were no signs of anybody returning. Since it's Friday today, he might be off drinking something with colleagues. I just hope he's back with the last train.
Click, the lights in my room suddenly turned off. With another similar sound, the lights turned into night mode. I could see the light entering my room through the small gap of the door, as it opened momentarily. And then, silence reigned. Someone came into my room. Well, it has to be Ayase-san. I doubt a thief would randomly choose this apartment.
But, what does she want in my room? Turning the lights off even. Maybe she mistook the room? I was about to push up my body to say 'This is my room, you know?', but I swallowed these words right away.
"Asamura-kun, you're awake, right?"
Ayase-san approached me with these words, as the sweet scent from body soap tickled my nose. However, that wasn't the reason for my shock. I've experienced this several times after all. She would take the bath last, and sleep last. That is what she decided on, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't come talk to me. There were also times when I went for some cup of water at midnight, and ran into her, wearing her nightwear.
Of course, that was pretty stimulating already for a high school boy like me, but the Ayase-san approaching me wasn't like that. I could hear the rustling of clothes, followed by them dropping to the ground. She was taking off her clothes. Since the lights were turned off, I could barely see anything. Only the lines of Ayase-san's body were emphasized.
The more she approached me, the better I could see her well-endowed chest, her slender waist, her long and slim arms reaching down from her bare shoulders. There was no more nightwear to hide her beautiful body. For those who haven't caught on yet, Ayase-san was only wearing her underwear. My eyes were drawn to her waist, which moved left and right at every step she took.
"Hey, Asamura-kun, there's something I'd like to talk about."
One step away from the bed, Ayase-san stopped.
"Something to talk about…" I let out a dumbfounded voice in the face of this situation.
Ayase-san took the final step, and put her hands down next to my waist. She looked at my face, and met her gaze with mine.
"Won't you…buy my body?" She told me at a distance close enough for me to feel her breath.
Thanks to the faint ceiling lights, I could see Ayase-san's face.
"…Huh?"
For a second, my head turned blank. What the hell?
"Hey, what do you say?"
"…W-What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. I'm asking if you won't buy my body. Basically, in exchange for money."
"..."
"Because of what happened before, I understood that my body is good enough to get you excited, and…well…We don't need to go all the way. You can just use it however you want."
"Hey hey hey hey…"
"Thinking about it rationally, this is what I arrived at."
You call this rational?
"Hear me out."
"Ah, okay…"
My reason and rationality almost went down the slope to hell, but I barely managed to keep them with me.
"We're in high school, right."
"…Yeah."
"That's why, you know. There's awkward deeds that you can't do on your own, don't you agree?"
Awkward deeds that you can't do on your own? Is she talking about the kind of action that…you know, requires the genitalia of both man and woman? Well, I guess so…No, I can't deny it. I'm not a saint or anything, I'm a healthy high school boy, so hiding it was practically meaningless, but I still didn't expect to talk about that with a girl my age.
"Now that we live under the same roof, there's chances that we might run into each other, getting caught in the act."
"I don't want to think about it, but it is possible."
"That's where I thought. If it was troublesome to be caught in the act, wouldn't there be more merit for us to take care of each other's needs at set intervals, with permission from both sides?"
"How did you even arrive at that thought…"
"When you evaluated my cooking so highly, Asamura-kun…"
Met with this sudden change of topic, I was bewildered. Why were we suddenly talking about dinner?
"…I thought about it. If I were to ask for money in return for my cooking, I could earn money with not much work."
"That…makes sense."
I thought about that as well. I guess we both arrived at this rather unfavorable way to settle with things.
"Although it wouldn't pay that much, it could reduce my costs to the bare minimum."
"Sounds like a good idea."
And yet, Ayase-san shook her head.
"I didn't want to earn money through that. I would get too much from that, greatly imbalancing the give & take. But, I do want money. That's why I came up with something worthwhile that I could supply, and get money back."
"So basically, while searching for high-pay work, you decided to step into night work with a member of your family?"
She nodded. Her thoughts were racing in a dangerous situation.
"If we really did it, then I'm sure it'd be a bit awkward afterwards, but rather than doing it with someone I don't know, I judged that it'd be much more comfortable to go all the way with someone as kind as you, Asamura-kun."
So she even thought of doing it with strangers.
"Doing it like this, I wouldn't feel bad for asking for too much money."
I heard the sound of something popping inside my head. I raised my upper body, stretching out my hand. As a result, her shoulders twitched in shock. Just seeing that reaction, a strong sense of guilt filled my chest, as my mouth opened slowly.
"That's the type of woman I hate the most, Ayase-san."
"Eh…"
I hate slander and bad-mouthing. No matter the reason, I don't want to hurt others through my words, and it hurts me just thinking about me saying this. However, I have to do it right now. I have to stop Ayase-san's rampage this very moment.
The face of my old man and Akiko-san flashed up inside of my head. After everything he went through, being betrayed by his former wife, and being depressed about it, can I really just turn away from that? No. I felt relieved when I saw his blissful face, and I want to support him right now.
As for Akiko-san, I don't know just what she went through, but there was probably some problem with her former husband, which is why they got divorced. However, right now, she was living happily it seemed. If I went along with Ayase-san's idea, her request, and what came after that, it would yet again bring misfortune to our parents. I can't accept that.
We said we wouldn't expect anything from each other. We confirmed this stance the first time we met, and somewhat kept our sense of distance since then. In a way, I expected Ayase-san to not do something like this, which led to this situation in the first place, meaning that I broke the promise. However, speaking of the first breach, it was Ayase-san.
"Use your looks as an armament, wasn't that what you said?"
I don't know why Ayase-san was hell-bent on not being made light of as a woman, so focussed on being independent, but what she was doing right now was the exact opposite of that. She was the exact type of woman that would be belittled. I don't doubt her thoughts that this might lead to proper demand and supply. But…
That reminds me, paid dating and night work are like ephemeral actions, and you assume the people to do it are only in it for the quick money, but there's even clever girls who end up doing it, or so I've heard. It wouldn't be weird for them to trace the exact same thinking that Ayase-san has now.
However, this was too simple. And, it contradicts with her own beliefs. Those who keep their contradictions and bother other people with it…I can't come to like them. If she was some stranger, then I would be able to ignore that, but as family, as an older brother, I can't just leave her alone. I put the towel I had on me around her shoulders, ensuring that she wouldn't be cold.
"That's not it. If you don't find a method to prove yourself superior, unrelated to you being a man or woman, then there's no meaning to it, right."
"B-But, it would be a viable option even if I was a man. That's why, armaments and whatever don't matter."
So she'd be doing the same thing if she was my younger brother? For a second, I imagined Ayase-san with a boy's stature, but that invited plenty of problems by itself, so I quickly banished that thought from my head.
"I won't take any sophism."
"I-I'm sorry."
Maybe it's because I warned her with a cold tone, but Ayase-san showed a dejected reaction. From there, I spotted anxiety, and regret. Even though I've realized that she was the exact opposite of the person the rumours made her out to be, she almost acted according to them. Now I understand that she was ready to do everything for her desire.
I'm so glad…So glad that she tried it with me first.
"As long as you understand, everything's okay. Also, I don't mind…well, paying for your cooking. There's just one problem."
That is the reason why I thought of it as an unfavorable solution.
"Problem…?" Ayase-san gently tilted her head.
"If we keep up a monetary exchange inside our family, then the income of our family's economy won't rise."
"…Meaning?"
"Our parents are really busy, so they can't go shopping all the time. Except for expensive furniture and electronic equipment, we need to save money for the smaller things, on a monthly scale."
"Right…"
"And, I'm working part-time myself. I can definitely pay you for the food. But, think about it. If I have to stop working because I get sick, or something along those lines, and I don't get my monthly pay anymore, then you won't be getting any more money either. However, can you really stop cooking from that day onward?" I continued. "As long as your source of income comes from within the family, it's uncertain if you can really receive proper price for your hard labour."
"That's right…I never thought about that."
"Of course, being paid from the family itself might have its merits. You definitely won't get deceived in the process. When you get your money from the outside, you constantly have to be careful so that you don't get paid less for what you deserve. But, even if it's not that well-paid, I still think it's better to get an objective value from an outsider, and ask for pay in that context."
Ayase-san stayed silent, probably thinking about my words.
"That's all the advice you get from me. Of course, I'll help you look for something, but no more of this."
"Okay…I'm sorry."
"It's fine." I accepted Ayase-san's apology.
There's no reason to lecture her any further now that she had seen the error of her own ways.
"But, there's something that we need to discuss."
"Eh?"
"Honestly speaking, I didn't think you were the type of person to do this, Ayase-san."
"That's…the same for me."
"I think this entire incident happened because I never really understood you, Ayase-san. That's why I want to know more about you."
"…Right. I don't like talking about the past, but I already troubled you like this…" Ayase-san closed her eyes and thought about it.
Letting out a sigh, she spoke of her past memories. This happened when she was a small child still.
Ayase-san's father seemed to have been an excellent entrepreneur. However, because he was betrayed by his friends, he lost the company, suffered from an inferiority complex, and started keeping his distance from his wife and daughter.
"Inferiority complex?"
"Thinking back on it, my father might have been jealous. Mom always said that, as a high school graduate, she could only rely on this nightlife business, but hearing the opinions from her colleagues, she was pretty popular."
"Akiko-san seems like she's a great talker. She's cheerful after all."
"Yeah…I think my father was always a kind person. But, after he lost his company, he changed."
At times he stayed away from this family, or spent time with a woman elsewhere. He basically stopped having any affection towards Ayase-san and Akiko-san. He stopped putting money into his family, forcing Akiko-san to pay for all the money Ayase-san needed, which led to her grudge against her father. There was also the fact that, since his wife worked at the nightlife business, he was always dubious that she might have another man, even ridiculing her for that.
"Even so, that doesn't just gratify the fact that he made Mom go through so much."
That explains why she hates the idea of being belittled as a woman…
"I see how it is."
Ayase-san looked up at me. "Asamura-kun?"
"Ah, well, I was just thinking how similar we were."
"It was the same with your family as well, Asamura-kun?"
"Yeah, for a short period of time, my old man ended up with gynophobia for a while. I'm shocked to see him get married again. Maybe it's thanks to Akiko-san."
"Gynophobia? He?"
"Yep."
"I see…"
So was that the same for you as well? — I heard her faint mutter, but I decided to ignore it.
"Ahh, that's why he kept that odd distance to Mom…" She muttered.
Apparently she realized that I was keeping a bit of distance to Akiko-san.
"We really are similar."
"Right."
"Even the bad parts added together."
I showed a wry smile, unable to deny her words.
"Well, we still have to get through this, including everything. As an older brother and little sister."
"…As an older brother and little sister?"
"Yeah."
Ayase-san let out a snicker, and removed the towel on her shoulders.
"Please treat me well from now on, Asamura-kun."
"Likewise. Ah, I wouldn't mind if you called me 'Nii-san' on the side…"
"Not happening."
"Ehhh…"
What a shame. But, there's no need to rush things. We'll be siblings for a long time now.
"I don't plan on going any further than this, Asamura-kun." Ayase-san put the towel on the bed, and approached me with a smile. "Not. Happening."
From her reddened lips, these two words hit my face like a warm breath. I get it already, sheesh. After all, my shared days with this beautiful yet oddly dangerous step-sister have just begun.
───
1 There's a small paragraph of him explaining the Japanese origin of that saying. I would need to add 5 different footnotes for this to even explain that, so just let me rewrite it here a bit.