Kawaikereba Hentai demo Suki ni Natte Kuremasu ka? Volume 13 Prologue

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Prologue

The first thing that pulled Keiki’s consciousness back into the real world was his phone’s alarm ringing from next to his pillow. While lying on his back on top of his bed, he grabbed his phone and turned the alarm off without even looking at the screen.

“…It’s already morning, huh?” He muttered with a hoarse voice as he looked up at the ceiling. “…I couldn’t get a wink of sleep.”

All total, he probably hadn’t even slept for an hour. His head hurt like he had a hangover, and his eyelids felt like lead. On top of being sleep-deprived, the February chilliness in the air made him unable to muster any motivation to leave his bed, so he just turned his back towards the air entering his room through the curtains.

Of course, the cold was one reason why he wanted to stay in bed today, but it wasn’t the main reason. It was also the reason why he was unable to sleep. Subconsciously, Keiki found himself directing his gaze to his side—to the empty space on his bed.

“………”

It was the space his little sister Mizuha would often sneak into at night. They had slept together almost every day, especially recently, which was why that space had become a reserved sleeping spot. Keiki couldn’t help but feel lonely upon waking up with that place empty and the girl nowhere to be seen. It felt like a hole had been torn open in his heart. Every time he tried to come to terms with it, a sharp pain stabbed his chest again.

“…I guess I should get up.”

Keiki pondered for a moment if he could just skip school, using his lack of sleep as an excuse, but his somewhat earnest and diligent personality weighed heavily against that decision. He gave up on the idea of falling asleep again and pushed himself upright. He put his smartphone into his pocket, opened the curtains, and left the room. He walked down the short hallway and trotted down the stairs.

“…Ah.”

The one who let out a surprised voice was Keiki’s co-habitant, who happened to open the door to the living room right as he came down the stairs.

“Mizuha…”

“Nii-san…”

Mizuha was already wearing her uniform, with a coat on top. For a moment, her expression looked a bit clouded, but she immediately gave him her usual smile instead.

“Morning, Nii-san.”

“Y-Yeah… morning…”

Keiki tried his best to hide his uncomfortable feelings, and gave somewhat of an average greeting in response. However, that was all he could do.

“……”

He couldn’t find any words to say after that, and his mouth closed. Since they lived in the same home, running into each other was normal. Keiki had been aware of this when he stepped out of his room, and had mentally prepared himself for this event, but it ended up still being too much for him. Whenever he found himself in front of her like this, he was reminded of the incident that had happened a day prior—the event that had occurred in the classroom in the afternoon.

Their exchange back then was the main reason Keiki had spent a sleepless night. His chest tightened, and he became unable to look at Mizuha, which was why he averted his gaze. This led Mizuha’s student bag to appear in his view. She seemed to notice this, and spoke up before Keiki could ask.

“I’ll be going ahead today.”

“I see…”

“I already prepared breakfast for you.”

“Yeah…”

“The lunch box is the same as always, too.”

“Got it…”

“Then see you later.”

“Alright…”

Mizuha put on her shoes and stepped out of the entrance while Keiki watched. The door closed, and Keiki found himself alone.

“I guess she really is avoiding me…” he muttered to himself.

Normally, Mizuha and Keiki left the house together. It happened especially often if neither of them had any particular business to take care of. Both of them had been on duty for cleaning at school the previous week, so there was no reason for her to rush out the door like that, and yet Mizuha was heading out like she was running low on time. Moreover, it almost seemed like she was indicating that she didn’t want to walk to school together. This was the first time Keiki had felt Mizuha distance herself to such a degree.

“She’s been acting weird, too…”

He thought back to that grim expression she had made for a split-second. Unlike Keiki, who often wore his heart on his sleeve, she didn’t make much of an expression after that, but it looked to him like she was forcing herself to keep a straight face. Even someone as dense as Keiki could tell that much. After all, he spent more time with her than with anybody else.

Well, I can understand why, at least…

He took his smartphone out of his pocket. After searching for a bit, he found a single message. He had received it from Koharu last night. It read ‘Was there any development with Mizuha-san after that?’ She was asking about any progress Keiki was making in his pursuit of love.

“I really can’t tell her, can I…?” The reason he couldn’t respond was because he simply felt guilty.

She had gone through such lengths to support his love. Despite being busy with her entrance exams, she set up an entire plan for him to confess, and tagged along for the date at the amusement park. She had said kind and supportive words when he felt guilty about developing feelings for his step-sister. She had prayed for his confession to be a success, and now when he considered telling her the results of all her efforts, he couldn’t bring himself to.

“Mizuha really did reject me…”

When he put this reality into words, it felt like someone had stabbed a sharp knife right through his chest. In that classroom, despite feeling that the two of them shared feelings for each other, Keiki had been rejected, and any hopes of dating Mizuha had been stolen from him. The feeling of his first love being a failure had caused him to not get a single wink of sleep the entire night.