CH 22

After returning home from the library, I tried to go back to my room.

“H-hey, Yusei.”

Then Mifuyu called out to me.

I tried to ignore her and started walking away.

“W-wait!”

Mifuyu shouts a little louder and grabs the sleeve of my shirt.

“What?”

I turn to Mifuyu with a slightly grumpy voice.

” Ah, eh.”

Mifuyu seemed to shrink a little when I turned to her with a sour voice.

But she still speaks to me.

“You know? I’ve been thinking about it since then.”

“About what?”

I asked, aware of my accusing tone.

“I was imposing my ideals on you, and it never occurred to me that I was causing you so much pain.”

It never occurred to you huh.

” So, you see? I don’t want to make you suffer any more. I’ll accept any kind of Yusei, so please forgive me.”

Mifuyu said this to me as if she was looking at my face.

“…you know, don’t you think it’s too convenient to do that now?”

“T-that’s…”

Mifuyu interrupted.

“When Mifuyu told me that it wasn’t me, I was really sad and bitter.”

This is my true feelings.

“I’m really sorry.”

This apology sounded empty to me.

It doesn’t matter anymore. Because I’m not the real me.

“With that, I went back to my room.”

“W-wait!”

She grabbed me by my sleeve again.

“What do you want?”

I naturally ended up speaking more strongly.

“I-I want to make up with Yusei.”

[What is she saying]

It appeared again.

But this time, I sympathize with what he’s saying.

“What are you saying?”

“Yusei?”

“There’s no way such words are going to make things go back to the way they were now, is there?”

I said coldly.

“I know. I know. Yusei has suffered a deep wound in his heart. And that it is not something that can be easily healed.”

You understand?

“You don’t understand. You don’t understand anything. Why are you talking like you understand me? Didn’t you do that before? Don’t act like you understand me.”

A low voice with a dash comes out of my mouth.

“Even if you don’t understand me, I want to understand you from now on.”

What the hell is that?

It’s too late now.

If you had said those words to me a little earlier, it might have been different.

“That’s why you don’t understand me.”

I want you to leave me alone now.

“Haa, I don’t need a sister if this is what it’s going to be like.”

I muttered this in a small voice.

Mifuyu seemed to have heard me.

She had tears in her eyes that were brimming with tears.

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I can’t believe I pushed you to that point. I’m sorry I’m such a bad sister. I’m truly sorry.”

Mifuyu then returned to her room.

[Oi, did you hear that? She apologized four times. That’s funny.]

……Well, no matter what she says to me now, I will never open my heart to Mifuyu again.

Or should I say, I can’t open my heart to Mifuyu anymore.

[It’s ironic, isn’t it? That you can’t open your heart even though she is your family.]

It’s ironic, really.

Family means people who are related by blood.

But it is also someone you can open your heart to.

I couldn’t do that anymore.

If anything, Mifuyu might be the one who rejects me the most.

But even so, I don’t think anything of it.

Even when I saw Mifuyu’s tears, I really didn’t think anything of it.

[Hahaha! You’re really beginning to break down, right!]

I’m broken.

That’s right.

[Well, that’s okay. It’s all the people around you who are to blame.]

It’s all the people around me who are to blame.

That’s right.

It’s not me that’s bad.

It’s everyone around me.

I desperately told myself that.

As if I was desperately trying to escape from something.

[You’re not running away. It’s really the people around you who are to blame.]

Hahaha.

Right

It’s their fault.

It’s all their fault.

It’s all their fault that I’m in pain, that everyone is crying, that I’ve changed.