If she told me she was about to flutter off into the nighttime streets, it would sound like the most natural thing in the world.
"You don't have to go out of your way to make dinner for me," I said.
"Dad's always busy, and I'm used to putting stuff together and eating
alone."
"Most of my days with Saki were like that, too, but I don't know.
We've just started living together, so I thought I should."
"Take it easy. I don't want you to work too hard and collapse."
"Okay. I might take you up on that starting tomorrow… Saki can cook,
too, you know. Maybe the two of you can take turns."
My ears twitched at her casual words. I imagined Ayase cooking and
instinctively felt it didn't suit her. And calling to mind the high school girl
with blond hair and pierced ears reminded me of the bad rumors
surrounding her.
A question arose in my mind, probably the result of those thoughts, and
I asked it.
"By the way, where do you work?"
"In Shibuya's entertainment district."
"…What kind of business is it?"
"Oh, you think it's some sleazy place, don't you? Come on, now!"
Akiko puffed up her cheeks like a child, seeing through my attempt to
dig into her background.
She was right. I couldn't bluff my way past a perceptive adult.
"It's a regular bar," she said. "We don't offer any improper services,
and I only serve my customers from behind the counter."
"So you don't wait on them?"
"In a sense, I guess I do. I'm a bartender!"
She made a gesture like she was using a cocktail shaker. Even to my
layman's eyes, her moves looked smooth and practiced. She didn't appear
to be lying.
"I'm sorry I misunderstood. I thought…"
"You heard I worked late at night. I'm not surprised you assumed I was
at some shady establishment. It's only natural. And besides, you're still a
student. I'd prefer you weren't an expert in after-dark entertainment."
"I guess you have a point."
Thinking about it now, there was no way my dad could manage to
seduce a woman who worked at a hostess bar. He was plain, ordinary,
simple, and down-to-earth. He wasn't the type who could live it up amid
the glittering nightlife. I should know; I'd been watching him for more than ten years—as far back as I could remember.
"Oops, I'd better be on my way," she said. "Take care of Saki, will
you, Yuuta?"
"Oh, right! See you later."
Akiko waved good-bye and rushed down the stairway, like a butterfly
soaring into the night.
…No, that wasn't right. She was more like a Chihuahua bounding
through the grass in a park.
You could be so wrong about people when you judged them by their
appearance or profession and relied on stereotypes.
After watching Akiko disappear past the elevator, I opened the front
door…
I was inside our home, in my room.
This was supposed to be my haven, but I felt anxious, probably
because the area beyond my door was now shared with strangers. The
hallway, the living room, and the washroom—none of it belonged to my
dad and me alone anymore.
It felt like a breach of etiquette to dwell on such things, so instead, I
stared at the textbooks I'd put on my desk like I was trying to burn holes
through them.
I studied for a while, then realized more than an hour had passed.
The sound of the front door opening and closing broke my
concentration and brought me back to the real world. Moments later, I
heard footsteps, then someone walking into the room next door.
"Welcome home," I said, but there was no reply. I must have spoken
too softly for Ayase to hear through the wall between us.
I told myself that even if she had responded, I didn't have anything to
talk about, and I turned back to my desk to resume my schoolwork.
I heard more footsteps through the wall, then the sound of her putting
her schoolbag on the floor and opening her closet to pull clothes from a
shelf…
Stop right there. It was gross of me to pay so much attention to the
household noise from her room.
I overwrote my inner voice with the things in my textbook and waited
for her presence to disappear.
"Asamura? Can I come in?"
But instead of disappearing, she knocked on my door and called out to me.
I took a second to glance around the room, judged what I saw
acceptable, and responded:
"Uh…sure."
"Coming in!" she said back.
"Uh, so what did you need?"
"Oh, you're studying! Wow, it isn't even time for exams."
"I guess. I think this is normal, though."
It wasn't like I was always studying. I usually included manga and
games in my daily routine as well. But my habit was to engage in those
activities while in bed or sitting in the middle of my room like a slob. I
could do that precisely because I knew no one was watching me, and I just
couldn't get into the right mindset knowing that Ayase was on the other
side of that thin wall.
"Are you aiming to get into a good college?" she asked.
"I don't think many people aim for a bad college."
"Seems like you're able to balance your schoolwork with your part-
time job."
"Does that surprise you?"
It wasn't like the two were mutually exclusive.
"At a part-time job, you exchange your time for money," she
explained. "But the more time you spend studying, the better you do in
school. That's why I think it's tough to strike a balance."
"You're thinking too hard. I've never looked at it like that."
"Hmm… Oh, hey."
She averted her eyes and played around with the ends of her hair like
she was about to say something difficult. Maybe it was just the lighting,
but her cheeks looked slightly red.
You could tell she was intelligent even from our short exchange, and
combined with the childlike way she kept changing expressions, I started
wondering if the rumors at school about her sleeping around for money
and being a delinquent were unfounded.
A few seconds passed, and Ayase's eyes took on a stern cast, like she
was bracing herself to say what she wanted.
"Do you know of an easy part-time job that pays well and doesn't take
up too much time?" she asked.
"So they were right."
"Huh?"
"Oh, nothing…"
I'd spoken on reflex.
I was glad I hadn't said something harder to gloss over. It would have
been disastrous if I'd said something like, "So you are a prostitute."
"I want money but don't want to spend too much time working. It
would be great if I could make more than a hundred dollars in an hour or
two."
"A regular job won't pay that much," I said, pretending to be calm. I
mentally put an iron mask over my face.
"Oh, okay. I guess selling is my only option."
I wished she wouldn't break through my protective gear so easily.
We might be only stepsiblings, but she was my sister. What on earth
was she telling her new older brother?
"I read in a book that you have to sell yourself to make money," she
said.
What kind of books was she reading? It'd be nice if people wouldn't
leave suspicious books lying around where a high school kid could pick
them up. Not that I was one to talk, considering the sleazy books I was
pretty sure we sold in the comic-essay section.
"Um, Ayase. It might be a breach of etiquette to say what I'm about to
say."
"It's fine, go ahead. I started it."
"I think you should take better care of yourself."
"Aren't you exaggerating? Other kids my age do it."
"Never mind other people. I'm talking about you. Only you can take
care of yourself."
"I do take care of myself. That's why I want to build a nest egg."
Ayase had a surprisingly serious look in her eyes as I lectured her like
some middle-aged man.
Dating for money, sugar daddies, anonymous hookups through social
media—I'd thought girls who were into shady activities did those things
without much thought. But Ayase looked so driven, I felt her gaze pull all
those assumptions from my brain by the roots.
No matter what kind of resolve was behind her decisions, though, there
were some things one shouldn't do. The fact that she was no longer a
stranger, but my stepsister, only made me more determined.
I also felt guilty recalling the gentle look on Akiko's face when we ran
into each other at the door. She must have complete faith in her daughter.