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Umi had entered the bath earlier, so I told her to wait for us in our room.

All according to plan.

[Umi: My brother is such a handful… I’ll leave him to you, okay?]

I replied to her message with a ‘yes’ and entered the bath with Riku-san.

“…”

“…”

We were walking side by side, but neither of us tried to start a conversation.

It wasn’t like we had nothing to talk about. Both of us had similar hobbies, gaming, and we could even talk about how much of a handful Umi could be if we wanted to. The problem here was, neither of us were the type to start a conversation.

“…Sorry.”

“Huh?”

“You know, the thing earlier this afternoon… Making a scene like that out in public… We got in the way of your date…”

“Not really, you don’t need to worry about that, Riku-san… Did Umi say something to you?”

“Let’s talk about that later. That idiot gave me a really strong head flick. Damn it, it’s still hurting…”

When he brushed his bang away a little, I could see a red bump right in the middle of his forehead. Her head flick was stronger than I expected. Daichi-san or Sora-san probably taught her how to do it.

Anyway, it seemed like there were no other guests in the bath, so we could talk as long as we wanted.

After rinsing off the dust from my body, I followed Riku-san to take a dip into the bath.

“Jeez, don’t you think you two are meddling a little too much into my affairs? I didn’t even ask you two to do this. Besides, why do you care so much about me?”

“Well, how do I put this? From your perspective, I’m nothing more than ‘Umi’s boyfriend’, just a stranger with an extra step, right, Riku-san?”

“…That’s one way to put it.”

“But, you see, Riku-san. To me, you’re Umi’s brother. You aren’t a stranger to me. Umi cherishes her family a lot, so as her boyfriend, I would also act the same. An important person of hers is also an important person of mine.”

Of course this also applied to Daichi-san and Sora-san too.

Both mom and I were extremely indebted to the Asanagis. After I started dating Umi, the Asanagis always tried to help me as much as they could. When I was sick, they let me stay at their house for a while. Occasionally, they would invite me over for dinner with them. Honestly, the Maeharas were closer to the Asanagis than our real relatives.

“Is this the ‘friend of my friend is also my friend’ trope?”

“Close, but not quite. Honestly, if you are just her friend, I would only do the bare minimum to get along with you, Riku-san. But you are her family. I have to get along with her family. If I want to have a bright future with her, I have to do this at least.”

“Ah, I see… If you guys are serious about your relationship, you’ll have to do it whether you like it or not, huh?”

I’ve never had a talk with Umi about our future yet. Personally speaking, I didn’t want my relationship with the Asanagis to grow estranged.

That was why I wanted to get along with them.

“Also, I respect you a lot, Riku-san. You always treat us like we’re troublemakers, but I’m aware that’s just your way to show that you care. I mean, this trip wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t step up back then. Aside from that, you always seem so mature. It’s actually hard to believe that you’re currently unemployed.”

“…Do you really respect me that much?”

“Yes. As much as Umi respects you at least.”

“Are you messing with me, brat?”

After saying that, he moved his hand and touched my head. He was probably about to give me a light chop, but he was afraid that it would hurt me. In the end, he settled for a head pat.

What a kind person he was.

“…I’ve always liked Shi-chan, you know?”

He let out a deep sigh before continuing.

“Back when we were little, she always got herself into trouble. She was small and sickly, but she couldn’t stay still in one place to save her life… Before I knew it, I acted like her caretaker. I always thought that she was a troublesome girl, but the more time I spent with her, the more I thought that I couldn’t leave her be and I had to protect her as a friend… And eventually, that feeling turned into love. By the way, she was the cutest girl in town back then.”

I knew it, they both liked each other ever since they were little. I mean, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t have bothered to keep in contact for that long.

“Then, why did you reject her confession? Did you already have someone else you liked back then?”

“Of course not. There are other girls that I found cute, yes, but the one that I always liked was her and only her.”

Nevertheless, he still rejected her confession.

“I know what you’re thinking. If we both liked each other, then why didn’t I just accept her confession? Well…”

“Well?”

“Ugh… Looking back, I’m realizing how dumb it was, but back then, I felt like it was the correct answer…”

The story goes back to Riku-san’s high school days, more than ten years ago.