Hayashi Megumi and the Room Where Changes Go Unnoticed
“Shall we head to the living room soon?”
After chatting for a while, Shiho-chan said to me.
She probably knows because she’s his sister, but it’s likely that Yamamoto’s cleaning is about done.
Following Shiho-chan, I headed toward the living room.
“Yo, just finished up.”
“Oh, nice. It looks clean.”
Arriving at the living room, Yamamoto noticed us and flashed a smug grin.
While looking at his self-satisfied face, I scanned the living room. This was only my second time stepping into this room since arriving at the house.
…Even though it’s only my second time in this room, I couldn’t help but think.
I can’t tell what’s supposed to be cleaner.
Yamamoto’s satisfied expression gave me a sense of déjà vu.
It’s the same ecstatic look he sometimes gets after cleaning our place in Tokyo.
But every time I see that blissful face, I always think to myself.
Seriously, I can’t tell what changed.
And it’s always at times like this that Yamamoto looks at me, practically begging for praise.
He’s like a girl who cuts her hair by a few centimeters and meets her friends, desperate for them to notice even the tiniest change—an ego in human form.
“Shiho-chan, can you tell what’s supposed to be cleaner?”
In moments like this, it’s probably best to just humor Yamamoto.
With that in mind, I turned to Shiho-chan beside me and asked. Right now, I’m completely useless in this situation.
I have no choice but to rely on Shiho-chan.
“Nope. Not at all.”
“…Huh?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Big brother will sort himself out eventually. Honestly, it’s better not to pay too much attention. He’ll probably start muttering later about how he didn’t clean that one spot well enough or whatever. If you praise him too much, he might get annoyed.”
“What a pain.”
In voices low enough that Yamamoto couldn’t hear, we shared a moment of exasperation.
Hearing about Yamamoto from his family only makes me more dumbfounded by the quirks of his personality.
That said, Shiho-chan sure knows how to handle him.
I guess living as the sister of this meticulous, neurotic guy for over a decade naturally makes you an expert.
“Big brother, why don’t you take a bath? You’re all dusty.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, maybe I will.”
Yamamoto finally took off his mask, tossing it into the trash as he walked off.
He was heading toward the bathroom, it seemed.
…For someone who was so reluctant to come back to his family home, he’s sure acting pretty comfortable.
That’s what I thought.
I came here because he threw a fit about not wanting to return home. But seeing him now, acting so normal, maybe I was worried over nothing.
“Kinda feels like I worried for no reason.”
I muttered to myself.
“Hm? What’s that?”
Shiho-chan caught it and asked.
Crap. I forgot she was right next to me and said it out loud.
“…He was really against coming back home. So I tagged along, just in case.”
Deciding there was no point in hiding it, I explained the situation to Shiho-chan.
Maybe because we’d been talking so much earlier, my guard was down a bit.
“Oh… I see.”
Shiho-chan’s face took on a slightly lonely expression.
“Meg-chan, me and big brother… we’re not related by blood.”
And just like that, Shiho-chan dropped a bombshell.
“Oh… wait, what?”
I responded casually at first, but the weight of her words hit me, and a weird noise came out.
Not related by blood?
Come to think of it, there’s a decent age gap between the two siblings.
“Oh, sorry. To be precise, we’re half-related.”
“Half…?”
“Me and big brother have different dads.”
Shiho-chan’s expression seemed to say that this was probably why Yamamoto didn’t want to come back home.
A blood tie that feels tacked on!
It’s not an afterthought! Just kidding!
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