CH 82

(**Sakihime’s POV**)

“Umikai-kun you idioooooot…!”

I muttered to myself as I rolled around on the futon.

I think this is the first time in my life that I’ve rolled around in my futon until this time already in the afternoon.

Even when I was a little girl, I was out of bed by seven in the morning.

…Ah, no.

The last time Umi-kun and I had a dispute just before my birthday, I was up later crying.

But other than that, I don’t remember anything else.

There’s only one reason why I’m lounging around on my futon like that.

It’s because I’ve been sending messages to Umi-kun since this morning using my Hanahime account, but Umi-kun hasn’t responded at all.

He used to message me back even when I was a little late, and we used to message each other all through the holidays until we became a family.

It was a blissful time for me at that time, and it was an important time for me.

That’s how important it was for me as Hanahime to communicate with Umi-kun.

And since Umi-kun said to me before, “You’re my only friend, Hanahime,” I think he cared about me in no small way.

That’s why we used to message each other all day long on holidays.

But now… I can’t communicate with him through messages at all.

Isn’t that too much?

I know it’s because you’re goofing off with Sakura and the others, but you could at least pay a little attention to your phone…

Because you might be getting a message from your friend Hanahime, you know?

Wouldn’t it be nice if you paid a little more attention to it?

“…It’s all my fault too~”

I muttered to myself, and rolled around on the futon again.

It’s been a while since I’ve sent him anything but good morning and good night messages, so maybe he’s come to the conclusion that I only send him messages in the morning and evening.

If that’s the case, I can understand why he doesn’t care about his phone.

But hey, let me give you one excuse.

I’m around Umikai-kun all the time at home, you know?

There’s no need to send messages all the time, right?

I also want to hear Umi-kun’s voice, so I can’t help but choose conversation over messages.

Also, when I’m not with him, I send him a message.

―Because I want to communicate with Umi-kun!

………..Yes, I’m sorry.

I’m not sending this message with Umi-kun in mind, I’m sending it completely out of my own greed…

But this is normal for a girl in love, you know?

I mean, you don’t have to be a maiden to do this, right?

You want to stay connected to the person you love.

And yet― because of a mean god, Umi-kun has been taken by other girls lately.

In the past, I used to be able to keep Umi-kun all to myself…

Why does God do this to us?

As I said before, it’s difficult for a girl to have the person she loves hangouts with another girl, you know?

If you keep doing that, you might get stabbed in the back.

―To Umikai-kun.

No, I don’t want that, so I have to act quickly before another girl gets close to Umi-kun. ……

But I’m going to do that on Umi-kun’s birthday, which is the day after tomorrow, so it’s okay!

…As long as the other girls don’t get in the way!

But maybe that’s okay too!

Because Saijo-san and the blonde girl aren’t coming to Okayama Prefecture, and Umi-kun’s trying to outsmart his cousin who’s clinging to him!

So there’s no one to get in the way!

…Am I, by any chance, the worst girl around?

But that’s okay.

Even if other people think I’m a jerk, as long as I’m the best in Umi-kun eyes, that’s all that matters.

Then I can act like the perfect girl at school and only pamper myself around Umi-kun, my boyfriend.

And everything will be fine.

“―Sakihime-chan, can you come over here for a minute?”

While I was alone with my thoughts, Grandma called out to me in a gentle voice.

I was still embarrassed to call her Grandma, but she was happy to hear me call her that, so I guess it was okay.

“What’s the matter, Grandma?”

“Oya, oya, you’re still using honorifics. Why don’t you just talk to me normally?”

Whenever I spoke to Grandma in honorific terms, as was my habit, she would gently remind me.

I think it was this kindness that made Dad such a gentle man.

Grandpa was also very kind.

…So why did Umi-kun turn into such a cynical person?

That’s right, when he spoils me, he accepts me with kindness even though I’m in trouble, and when I’m in trouble, he’s very dependable and cool, but usually he’s quite sly and mean.

In addition, he’s a douchebag with a propensity to take pleasure in frustrating people…

“Is there something wrong?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing―  wait, no, nothing, Grandma!” [TLN: Sakihime went from an honorific way of speaking to a casual one here that’s why the sentence is like this.]

When I said that to cover up, grandma muttered, “Oh, I see,” and handed me a rather large square of something.

“Is this… an album?”

“Yes, it’s a photo album of Kaito’s childhood.”

“Umi-kun’s!?”

When I heard that it was Umi-kun’s childhood photos, I immediately opened the album and looked at the contents.

I heard that Umi-kun’s photos were at home, but Umi-kun wouldn’t let me see them, and when I asked his father, he wouldn’t let me take them out because he said Umi-kun would get mad.

He said that Umi-kun was very angry with him when he took them out of the house without permission before.

What’s wrong with a picture of your childhood?

Well, it’s too embarrassing for me, so I won’t show it to him either.

“Wow― he’s so cute!”

That was the first thing I said when I saw Umi-kun’s childhood photo.

Because he is so cute!

He must have had short hair when he was little!

And when I say cute, I mean he’s got a little bit of a steely look in his eyes, a little bit of Umi-kun when he’s got his hair done!

Oh, but…

“Stuck on Umi-kun…”

I get a mixed feeling when I see Rin-chan in every picture, attached to Umi-kun’s arm and in the picture with him.

The only pictures that don’t have her in them are the ones of Umi-kun as a baby and the ones of him when he was just a little bit bigger.

The rest of the pictures are all of with Rin-chan.

And to my frustration, she’s very cute.

“Ah… Rin has been so attached to Kaito since she was a little girl~. And Kaito also loved Rin very much…”

“I see.”

Umi-kun, you’ve been taking good care of Rin-chan…

It’s not fair…

I wish I could have been with Umi-kun from a young age.

If I had, I would have been pampered from then on, and Umi-kun might have protected me when I was being courted by boys in middle school.

If that had been the case, I wouldn’t have had to become such a nuisance…

And if we’re cousins, we can even get married.

Perhaps it’s easier to get married as a cousin than as a stepsister.

When I think about it, I feel like I’m being put at a tremendous disadvantage by the fact that I’m living with Umi-kun and I’m getting an advantage over the other girls.

………..But it doesn’t matter if you have love, right?

Because stepsiblings themselves can also get married.

As I rubbed myself up against it, I swore to myself that I would never lose to the other girls. [TLN: Sakihime best girl wooooo <3]

If I take a step back in my heart, I will never be able to reach Umi-kun.

After looking through all of Umi-kun’s childhood photos, I was about to return the album to Grandma― but stopped myself.

“U-Umm… is it okay if I get just one photo…?”

When I fearfully asked her, she smiled and nodded.

“That’s what I thought initially, so sure.”

“T-Thank you!”

I thanked her and got a picture of Umi-kun without Rin-chan in it.

It’s my second most treasured gift after the birthday presents I got from Umi-kun and Sakura!

I mean, is it possible that Grandma knows how I feel because she brought it to me for that purpose…?

When I looked at Grandma, she smiled back at me.

The smile on her face seemed to say, “I know what you mean,” and I thought to myself, “ The virtues of age are amazing”―.