The Lie and What Follows

When I woke up, it was already dark outside. The clock read 4 a.m., just a few hours away from dawn.

I had overslept. Probably the only other time I slept this much was when I had cried myself to sleep. Thankfully, the pain in my chest from yesterday had lessened. However, the fact that the girl who confessed to me had someone else she liked, and that her confession was a lie, was too much to digest in a single day.

She should have confessed to Kondo from the start. What welled up in my heart was distrust and dissatisfaction toward her, anger and hatred for being betrayed. Why did we even go to watch Kondo’s game together? I would expect Kiryu and the others from the girls’ basketball team to be there for support, and us going together would significantly increase the risk of being found out.

No, forget it. It’s fine if it was just a little dream. I don’t understand what popular kids like her think. Why did I think I could be involved with her? I want to go back to the day she confessed and slap myself twice.

“Take your time.” Adachi’s gentle voice flashed back in my mind. The voice that calmly waited for my answer.

I closed my eyes tightly, feeling disgusted at myself for still wanting to believe in her. Fortunately, today is Sunday. I’ll relax at home today and go back to being my old self tomorrow. That’s fine. By the time I had cleared my thoughts, it was already starting to get light outside.

My stomach growled loudly. Ah, I hadn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday. Time to get up and make something. But as I turned to my left, which I had been avoiding, I found the reason I hadn’t gotten out of bed.

There, next to me, was my sister Haru, sleeping while hugging my arm. It’s a loving gesture from a worried sister. Family love is great; sisters are the best. But why are there bite marks on my arm? I guess she was so hungry she mistook my arm for a ham log or something.

What about last night’s dinner? Haru doesn’t like ready-made meals. While I usually handle the cooking, cleaning, and laundry, Haru takes care of everything else. Wait, do we have any leftovers?

First, I need to deal with breakfast. Haru’s usually diligent during school days, but she becomes incredibly lazy on her days off, often sleeping until noon. It’s already 5 a.m., so she probably won’t wake up for another seven hours or so.

I decide to wake her up, bracing myself for the inevitable slap.

“Haru, wake up.”

“Haru, it’s morning.”

“Haru, it’s morning, let’s eat.”

“Shut up, shorty.”

Her foul-mouthed response is usually a sign that she’s almost awake, so I forcibly get her up.

“Wake up! I’m hungry!”

“Fine, I get it, you’re noisy.”

Finally, she lets go of my arm. When did she even start hugging it? My left arm is turning blue… Is this what they mean by a royal arm?

“Good morning, Toru.”

“Good morning, Haru.”

“Are you okay now?”

She must have been worried after seeing how I was yesterday. Haru is probably half made of kindness.

“Yeah, I got harshly rejected, just like you said. Ah well.”

“I told you so. Know your place, shorty.”

Harsh, isn’t it? Even though she’s half awake, she’s already being rude.

“Anyway, I understand what kind of person Adachi is now.”

-I’ll smash her face if I see her again-

My sister is scary.

“No, there’s no need for that. I’ve learned my lesson and will keep my distance. Let’s eat, I’ll prepare it right away!”

Sunday. 10 a.m.

After breakfast, I cleaned the house and was staring at my phone in my room. I hadn’t looked at it since I came home yesterday and collapsed on the bed in tears. Adachi had sent a lot of messages.

Messages: 52

I really don’t feel like opening them, but they’re probably all apologies. I can’t tell what she wants to say since the latest notification is a missed call, but it’s almost certainly an apology. If this is a barrage of angry messages for going home without telling her, then I’d consider transferring schools.

As I was about to close the phone, a call suddenly came in. I reflexively answered it.

“…Toru?”

Her voice sounded very hoarse.

“I’m sorry, Toru. I did something terrible to you.”

“…”

“Please, can we talk just once?”

“… Toru, I want to hear your voice.”

“I am…”

Just as I was about to speak, Haru entered the room.

“What are you doing, Toru?”

Haru snatched the phone from me and unleashed a torrent of words at Adachi.

“Why are you contacting Toru? If you understand what you’ve done, leave him alone and go hang out with your dumb friends! If you do anything else to Toru, I’ll seriously smash your face! Don’t ever approach him again!”

“Sorry…”

Haru hung up without waiting for her reply. Then she turned to me.

“Why did you pick up that trash woman’s call?”

“I didn’t mean to, it came in accidentally when I was closing the phone. I was scared and couldn’t hang up.”

“You’re such an idiot, Toru.”

She sighed, but I had braced myself for at least a couple of slaps.

“Haru?”

“It’s enough, Toru. You don’t have to be sad anymore. You’ve been sad enough for a lifetime. You don’t have to suffer anymore.”

Tears were forming in her eyes as she looked down.

“I’m sorry, Haru.”

I pulled her close to me and stroked her hair until she calmed down.

“It’s fine now.”

After crying on my shoulder for about 10 minutes, Haru finally looked up.

“I understand.”

It had been a somber moment. Today had been filled with Haru’s kindness. I could feel my own tear ducts weakening. Haru stared at me intently. Wait, why is she so close? What’s going on?

“You’re still short, huh? Did you shrink?”

With a cheerful smile, she managed to irritate me once again.