Chapter 5: A secluded store

[Renya PoV]

As soon as I got off school, I headed to the bookstore to buy a new book and wandered around the city looking for a good place to read. After a while, I found a coffee shop just off the main street. It looked like a good place to read quietly.

“Welcome.”

When I entered the store, I was greeted by a calm atmosphere and a master with an austere voice. I want to be a dandy like him when I get old.

“I’ll have a cup of coffee and the daily cake.”

I’m going to stay here for a long time, so I have to drop some money. I’m not thick enough to stick with a cup of coffee.

[Sakuya PoV]

I, Sakuya Tsukuyomi, have an older brother. I’m proud of my older brother, who is good at both sports and studying, and I’ve loved him since I was a little girl, because he would always give me attention when I asked him to play. When I became a junior high school student, I felt embarrassed to call him “Onii-chan,” so I started calling him “brother” and speaking to him in honorific terms.

That’s why I was so surprised when I heard that my brother had molested a girl, and because I was in the midst of rebellion, I was very hard on him. When I saw him desperately denying it, I thought that he hadn’t actually done it, but as I was going through puberty and was sensitive to relationships between men and women, I looked at him as if I were looking at something filthy.

After that, I started to do my laundry separately from my brother. After a while, both of my parents became busy with their work and were rarely at home, so they didn’t have time to do the housework. So we had to do the housework, but as I was in the middle of my rebellious period, I rejected my brother’s attempts to cooperate with me in doing the housework.

After that, my brother took care of himself and rarely left his room when he was home. Even though I wanted to apologize, he became defiant, and in the end I couldn’t apologize and we hardly talked anymore. We became like strangers living in the same house.

While I was living like this, I found out that my brother’s molestation was a false accusation. I was still in my rebellious phase, so I couldn’t apologize right away, and it took me almost a month to make up my mind to go and apologize.

I was speechless. It had been a while since I had spoken to him, but he had become a different person. His tone was indifferent, his face expressionless, his eyes inorganic. I couldn’t feel the warmth of my brother who used to care for me.

That was the end of my rebellious period. I wanted things to go back to the way they were, so I talked to him aggressively, but nothing changed. I tried calling him “Onii-chan” to see if we could get back to our old relationship.

“What’s up with the sudden flattery? Do you want money? You can’t help it, can you?”

He gave me 10,000 yen. No! I shouted, but he just tilted his head afterwards

I called him “Onii-chan” several times after that, but each time he just gave me 10,000 yen. After all that.

“It can’t be. You’re not having an affair, right? Our parents would be very upset.”

I said to him, “I’m sorry.” I found out later that the first day I called him “Onii-chan” was exactly the day he got his alimony. So he thought I was flirting with him for money. I was so hurt by the fact that he thought I was calling him Onii-chan for money, and the fact that he wouldn’t grieve for me even if I was trying that. I locked myself in my room and cried.

I still haven’t gotten back together with my brother.