So of course, I’d told Maru about my situation.
“My new family is… Well, to sum it up, they’re different from what I expected.”
“So I hear you have a sister now, huh? You’re a big brother, you lucky dog.”
“Don’t say it like you’re cursing me. Well…I mean, she’s technically my little sister, but…”
“What, can’t get excited if you’re not blood-related?”
“I can’t look at my sister that way, whether she’s blood-related or a stepsibling. Besides,” I added, conjuring Ayase’s face in my mind, “she’s more of a woman than a little sister.”
“That sounds pretty perverted, if you ask me.”
“That’s the only way to describe her. I honestly don’t know how to interact with her.”
“Hmm, I see. A woman, huh? Well, they say grade-schoolers mature early these days.”
“Grade-schoolers? What are you talking about?”
“We’re talking about your sister, right?”
Maru blinked like he wanted to ask me what I was saying.
But wasn’t that my line?
…No, wait a minute. Dad had told me I would have a younger sister, and I’d taken it for granted that she would be much younger than me, maybe still in elementary school or junior high. That was why it’d seemed perfectly natural when he’d shown me a picture of her from when she was little.
It would be perfectly natural for Maru to think the same thing.
“Hold on a second. First of all, my sister is—”
I stopped midsentence.
As it happened, my sister wasn’t in elementary school. She was a high school student in the same grade at the same school as us. I didn’t know which class she was in, but she was pretty… If I told Maru that, I’d make him curious. He might even start getting suspicious.
Maru was my best friend; I could probably trust him. But I couldn’t break the promise I’d made with Ayase. Trust was paramount, and I wasn’t a guy who blabbed.
“What about your sister?” Maru asked.
“My sister… Oh, she wasn’t what I expected. She’s completely different from the type you see in anime and manga.”
“Of course she is. Have you finally lost touch with reality?”
“Don’t say ‘finally.’ It makes it sound like I’ve been on the precipice for a while now.”
“It’s true, though, isn’t it?”
“Just because something’s true doesn’t mean you should say it.”
“But that’s how I roll.”
I knew that.
Maru and I had been friends for more than a year, and I knew his commentary could be razor-sharp and ruthless.
“Anyway,” I said, “for the record, I don’t find her the least bit exciting. It’s actually pretty nerve-racking trying to figure out how to interact with her and how much distance to put between us.”
“I can imagine.”
“By the way, changing the subject completely…do you happen to know a student named Saki Ayase?”
“Huh? I’ve heard of her, but where did that come from?”
Maru furrowed his thick brows. He had no idea this was simply a continuation of the previous topic.
Guys on sports teams had big networks. I wouldn’t be surprised if a girl—particularly one as pretty as Ayase—had come up in conversation, though I’d never heard rumors myself, since I wasn’t interested in such topics. Maru, on the other hand, had once complained to me that he was fed up with hearing stories about girls he wasn’t interested in.
“Saki Ayase, huh?” he said. “Hmm…of all people, why her?”
“Oh, um, I don’t know. She’s quite good-looking, right?”
“Forget it.”
“Huh?!”
“I’m saying this as your friend. I don’t recommend her at all.”
“Wait. What’re you talking about?”
“I know it isn’t cool to meddle in someone else’s love life, but…”
“I don’t recall talking to you about my love life.”
I panicked, realizing Maru had assumed I was talking about a crush and was steamrolling ahead with that assumption.
“You weren’t?” he asked. “I thought you’d fallen in love with Ayase.”
“No way—I couldn’t. A lousy guy like me would be a poor match for a pretty girl like her.”
I envisioned the beautiful girl with her gorgeous blond hair, followed by my own dull face that had looked back at me from the mirror that morning. I sighed.
Maru eyed me suspiciously, like he wanted to ask what the heck I was talking about, and slowly shook his head.
“You’ve got it the wrong way around,” he said. “It would be bad for your reputation if you started dating her.”
“…Ha-ha. Are you trying to be funny?”
“I’m not joking.”
“Then what are you saying? You must have a pretty inflated idea of how cool I am if you think I’m too good for her.”
“She is a babe…but, well, I’ve heard a lot of bad rumors about her.”
Talk about beating around the bush.
“I don’t like saying things about people I don’t know well,” he continued, “but it’s a different story if my best friend might be in love with her. They say ignorance is bliss, but knowledge is power.”
“Will you tell me more about those rumors?”
Maru was still under the impression that I had the hots for Ayase, but if I corrected him, I’d have to explain that she was my stepsister. I didn’t want the hassle of being interrogated, so I thought, what the heck? I’d just go along with it.
Maru looked around, then quietly moved closer. He spoke in a solemn, low voice.
“People say Ayase’s…selling.”
“…Huh?”
“She dyes her hair blond, has pierced ears, and keeps people away with her sour look. She’s a bad girl, an outcast at a prep school like ours, and she doesn’t get along with her class. People have seen her leaving Shibuya’s entertainment district and the area where all the cheap hotels are.”
“Hmm. So that’s what people are saying about her?”
I acknowledged what Maru had said, neither affirming nor denying it.
Unsurprisingly, her appearance made people think she was a stereotypical bad girl. From our few conversations, that wasn’t my impression of her, but I didn’t know her well enough to trust her unconditionally.
“Maru, it seems unusual for you to believe stuff like that. You’re normally wary of rumors.”
“A guy on the baseball team confessed to her.”
“Huh? Aren’t people scared of her?”
“They say bad things about her, but she’s beautiful, and beautiful girls are popular. Though, I don’t get it, personally.”
“I see.”
“But she told him—the guy who confessed, that is.”
“…Told him what?”
“She said, ‘I’m the bad girl everyone says I am, and I’m not interested in dating anyone.’”
Maru put on a high-pitched voice as if to mimic her. He was making light of the story, but it was clear he didn’t have a good impression of Ayase.
“Any chance the guy might be exaggerating?”
“I can’t be a hundred percent sure, but probably not. And he isn’t the only one who’s said things about her. I’ve heard similar stories from guys on other teams.”
“Each story by itself leaves room for doubt, but put them all together, and they make for strong evidence, huh?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
People didn’t always tell the truth, but I thought it was very likely Maru was right about Ayase’s responses to the boys who had confessed to her.
“Hmm… It’s like Pandora…,” I said.
I felt like I’d opened Pandora’s box.
According to The Chemistry of Men and Women, you should first get to know the other person. I’d wanted to learn about Ayase to help me figure out how to interact with her, but now it seemed like I had even more to worry about.
Were the rumors true?
If so, did Akiko and Dad know?
And if they didn’t, should I tell them about it now that we were a family?
…No.
I didn’t like the idea of telling on someone without any proof or supporting evidence. And even if the rumors were true, I wasn’t interested in meddling in someone else’s affairs. So what if Ayase dated men for money? If they each had something the other wanted, they were free to do whatever they pleased. It was none of my business what she did.
Now that she was part of my family, things were a little more complicated, but I didn’t want to criticize her, even if it was all true. My only thought was that it would be sad if there was something in her life that had driven her to do things like that.
“So, Asamura. Your turn.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“I laid my cards on the table. Now you do the same. Why are you suddenly asking me about Ayase?”
“Oh. Well, you can think what you want.”
“What? Don’t brush me off—you’re just making me curious.”
“It’s not that I won’t tell. I can’t say anything more. I wish you’d get the message.”
“Hey, don’t think you can distract me by quoting a line from a manga… Geez. Some friend you are. And after I told you what you wanted to know.”
Maru complained under his breath, but he didn’t push further. He knew when to quit. That was the good thing about Tomokazu Maru.
I glanced at the back of his head as he began preparing for first period; then I turned my attention to the window. I saw a reflection of myself leaning my cheek on my palm, looking bored as I thought absently about Ayase.
I was glad we weren’t in the same class. If I was able to see her whenever I wanted, I’d never break free from this strange, anxious feeling.
I knew I’d feel it again when I got home, but it was human nature to want to delay the inevitable as much as possible.
The moment I’d wanted to delay came much sooner than expected—two hours later, to be precise.
Fate is merciless.
We had physical education class during third period every Monday, and the timing couldn’t have been worse.
Sports Day was coming up, and classes paired up and had PE together to conduct practice games. These joint classes were beginning that very day.
“Okay, here goes! My secret weapon, the Great Soaring Serve! Take that!”
We were on the school tennis court, and under a blanket of thick, gray clouds, a carefree voice called out the names of fancy techniques, like the kind you might read about in manga.
The voice belonged to a female student in gym clothes, swinging away with her racket. She was petite, and her hair was dyed reddish-brown. She looked like a redheaded hamster moving restlessly around the court.
She was in a different class, but even I knew her name—Maaya Narasaka.
She was her class’s representative. You might call her energetic if you were being nice. If you weren’t, you might say she was loud and obnoxious.
She was cheerful to a fault, like she’d been doused with an energy drink, and a total mother-hen type. Maybe thanks to that and to her charming, cute face, she had friends throughout the school. She was living life to the fullest—an extrovert among extroverts.