My beautiful sister-in-law who is only attached to me, and my childhood friend who just made her high school debut, barged into my house?

In a regional town where people commute from to the adjacent big city, in the Katsuragi family’s residence, Shota had been urgently tidying up his room since early morning.

Although he cleans up the place regularly,  he was conscious of a certain someone who suddenly popped back into his life.

In order to save face as the older brother, even if only a little, he made sure that his room was as neat as possible.

While he was sorting out the books, the sound of footsteps from the stairs could be heard and not long after, the door opened with a bang.

A black-haired girl who could be mistaken for a supermodel had barged into the room without even knocking.

“Sho-chan, help me defeat this guy――Wow! What’s with the mess you’re making?”

“I’m just reorganizing everything Mio.”

Shota frowned and sighed at the girl of the same age group who came into the room with a game console in hand  – Mio Gojo, my childhood friend.

Mio looked around the room with no consideration for privacy, and her eyes lit up when she spotted something among the books scattered on the floor.

“‘The lecherous young lady who is secretly a geek is my younger sister’…This brightly coloured, thin book with big tittied characters is unmistakably an erotic doujinshi! I’ve definitely seen this somewhere before!　It’s been a while since I’ve seen one~, where did you get this?”

“Oh, it was pushed onto me by Kazuma the other day.”

“Is it erotic? No, it’s definitely erotic!”

“Hmm, it is more of a gushy type?　You’ll understand if you read it.”

“Ehh~Really?”

Saying that, Mio picked up the erotic doujinshi and started reading while lying down on Shota’s bed.

Shota quietly proceeded with cleaning  up the room while listening to Mio’s occasional snickering and snorting.

“You’re so full of yourself for a small-breasted character”

“No, no, this is…”

“What!?”

Eventually, she finishing reading. Mio lifted up her face, her skin glistening, as she let out an ecstatic sigh contentment.

“The storyline was surprisingly good!　Especially the part where he says ‘Idiot, it’s okay because we’re not real brother and sister!’ with a bit of a cheeky look but with shame, it’s a homage that’s full of love for the original work.”

When Kazuma gave it to me, insisting that I read it, he said with a concerning amount of vigour, “It’s not just an erotic manga!”

Then, I thought, “What the hell is he on about?”

But after I read it, I could understand why he was so passionate about it.

“Hey, are there any sequels?”

“No, that’s all… hey, I just cleaned that up!”

“There isn’t? Well, I’m sure I can find the collection online anyway.”

“… Send me the link if you find it.”

“Ah, asking your sister to send you doujinshi is kinda weird~”

“Get out of here!”

Shota raised his voice in embarrassment as Mio smiled softly. Such an exchange that can be said to be as usual.

When Shota returned to tidying things up, Mio resumed playing the game she brought. She sat cross-legged on the bed and scratched her stomach, drinking Shota’s half-filled cup of ginger ale without asking. A so-called childhood friend. They’d been like this since before they went to elementary school.

Even though a man and woman of similar age were in the same room, there was an easy-going and comfortable atmosphere. It was hard to believe that she had just found an erotic doujinshi and then reviewed it just moments ago.

If you take a quick look at Mio, you’ll see that her red hair, which has been left to grow out was tied back, and she’s wearing a shabby shirt and sweatshirt that made her conscious of showing herself in public. Mio, who had a relaxed appearance that she doesn’t usually show outside, didn’t really care about how she conducted herself in the house. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be chugging down a ginger ale and burping like a pig.

In that way, Shota has spent more time with Mio than with her family.

She put her hand in the sweatshirt as she scratched her buttocks.

I finally said what I had been wondering.

“Are siblings supposed to be like this?”

“What’s up with that? You sound like you want to do something with me like they did in the book.”

“Ha!”

“Why is your reaction so terrible!?”

Laughing at Mio, who was hugging her body with a humorous expression, she threw a pillow at Shota in protest.

He returned a wry smile, but Mio peered into his face with slight concern in her voice.

“So what happened all of a sudden?”

“ah……”

He must have had something on his mind from the earlier murmur.

Shota knew that he was separated from Erika due to family circumstances.

And he hasn’t talked about it yet, partly because meeting with her the other day was so sudden.

Shota scratched his cheek and opened his mouth while scrutinizing his words.

“My parents are back together. Erika is coming back to live in this house.”

“What? No way⁉ I haven’t heard anything about this though!?”

“I didn’t hear anything about it either. The day before yesterday, we had a face-to-face meeting. You saw some packages in the hallway, right?”

I was wondering what was going on. I thought it was for me.

“No, no, no, that’s too much stuff just for you.”

“Sho-chan, have you heard?”

“What?”

“Nothing~ it’s a secret☆”

“…So annoying”

The conversation was not going anywhere.

Although it bothered him, when Mio twists her mouth into a fox-like smile, there was no way of getting anything out of her.

“Hey, hey, how did Eri-chan look? Was she cute?”

“Ah, uh, well how do I put it…”

When he thought of Erika, he became aware of his heartbeat as his chest made loud thumping noises, while fumbling over his words.

Seeing Shota react like that, Mio narrowed her eyes with suspicion.

“Judging from your reaction, she must be pretty cute. I bet you’re excited to be living under the same roof with a girl like that for the rest of your life.”

“What are you on about!? She’s my sister.”

“The book says that even if she’s your sister, it’s okay right?”

“That’s because it’s a doujinshi!”

“Teehee~”

While they were joking around with each other, their feelings were complicated.

Shota’s heart was in turmoil. Even though he’s her older brother, he was aware of her as the opposite sex, and had no idea how to deal with living together from now on.

Shota was a little resentful towards Mio as she genuinely looked forward to it in a carefree manner.

“I see, Eri-chan is coming back…I’m looking forward to it~. Hey, when is she coming over?”

“It’s today.”

“Mmm, I really want to do welcome her, but oh how unfortunate, I have plans for today!”

At that moment, Mio jumped up and stretched.

“So, take a picture of Eri-chan later and send it to me.”

“What am I supposed to say to get a picture of my sister?”

“Hmmm, ‘Can I get a picture to show off my cute little sister?”, or something like that?”

“No way in hell will she agree to that!”

“Hehehe.”

Giggling, Mio said, “Well, I’m off,” and left.

‘She’s really a free spirit.’

With that thought, Shota, who was left behind, let out a big sigh, as he looked around his room to find that it was half-cluttered.

“…the rest, let’s tidy up.”

note: apologies for the confusion between the childhood friend and the sister the MTL made me think they were the same person.