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?

I couldn’t sleep well that night. Before I knew it, it was already quite late in the morning, soon approaching noon.

I got up from my bed, letting out a big sigh.

–Erika is not my real sister.

It is hard for me to accept that.

I asked my mother about Erika last night for confirmation, and she told me that she is the grandchild of my father’s older cousin, in other words, she is my cousin. ‘You didn’t know until now?’ was what she seemed to be implying with her tone of voice.

I see now that Erika and I are distant relatives and also why we were separated after my parents divorced.

“It’s like we aren’t related at all.”

Shota spoke to himself, still sleepy and confused, descending the stairs and timidly peering into the living room.

Then he was called from the side.

“Good morning, brother. What’s wrong?”

“Oh! Good morning, Erika. Ah, umm, is this like a habit?”

“? Stop being a weirdo.”

Surprised by being spoken to so suddenly, Shota made strange excuses while gesturing weirdly in a hurry.

He looked at Erika who was giggling, thinking that it wasn’t good for his heart to be greeted so suddenly.

She was dressed in a simple cut-and-sew design, along with a long skirt, looking very different from Shota, who was donned in a loose shirt with shorts as nightwear.

This made Shota even more aware that there was a girl close to his age in his house, not his younger sister, and he felt a heat start to rise in his cheeks.

Is this when I should say something? How should I reply to her as an older brother in this situation? As I was thinking about such things, a voice called out to us from the living room.

“Oh, Shota and Erika. Your father and I are leaving for the trip now. Take care of yourselves!”

“Where are you going?”

“I told you last night at dinner. I’ve decided to follow your father for his work this time. It’s going to be a long trip.”

“This time we are going to Hokuriku. Speaking of Hokuriku, I’m looking forward to the northern bluefin tuna and white shrimp!”

“Oh, honey, you can’t miss the crabs, especially the crabs!

“What about …………?”

I could not understand anything my parents were saying.

Shota still hadn’t recovered from yesterday’s discovery about Erika and now his parents were excitedly talking about Hokuriku. Thinking back on the previous night’s dinner, he had no memory of them talking about a trip as he was too preoccupied with thoughts about Erika not being his real sister.

My father used to go on business trips and work outside of town for long periods of time. So I didn’t care much about that.

If mother follows father and leaves, then I will inevitably have to be alone with Erika in the house. An attractive female of a similar age as me who is also not my real sister.

My chest pounded while my mind began to spiral out of control. There’s no way I can survive that kind of situation for anymore than a single day. With mixed feelings of anxiousness but also anticipation, I tried to protest.

No, no, no, mom, what about your job?”

“I can do it remotely.”

“Well, how about food…”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already arranged for that.”

“…”

“We’ll be off then!”

“Mr Krabs wait for me to devour you!”

With that, my mother and father left the house in a flash, looking to be in very jovial moods. Perhaps they were in honeymoon mood.

I stood there stunned while my sleeve was pulled.

“What do you want for breakfast?”

“Ah…”

The first thing that comes to my mind is the scene of the two of us having a meal together.

I hadn’t steeled myself for this kind of situation with Erika, not knowing what kind of face to make, I let the vowels roll off my tongue, “Uh-oh” and “ahh” as I backed away little by little.

“……?”

Perhaps wondering why Shota was behaving so suspiciously, Erika tilted her head and peered into his face. If anyone else also had such a pretty face so up close to their own face, they couldn’t help but become flustered either.

“Oh, I’m fine, um, I’m going for a run  first!”

“……ah”

Saying that, Shota immediately turned on his heels so that she wouldn’t see his reddened face and rushed out the front door.

Note: The translation for the title says sister-in-law but she’s actually just his half-sister from his father’s side who is also his cousin ? Also should probably add an incest tag.