Author: Inaida Sou
Translator: The slowest snail Kei of ChocoCats
Proofreader: Cinnamon-san <3

A big thank you to Marritime, Meow, Impostor, Yhowan, and Anon for the Ko-fi!
You guys really made my hellish days a bit brighter ;w; Thank you!

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○ 3 Days Later

On the morning of August 1st, my brother let me go easily. In the end, he kept the handcuffs on me, but we just watched movies together, read novels, slept together in my brother’s room, and cooked and ate together. Please read this at ChocoCats.

The handcuffs were removed for the bath and the toilet, leaving behind some terribly disturbing words, “I will let you go for now. For now.”

“Mai! Don’t just eat manju, come and take a look. I bought you some souvenirs, Mai! Look, there are cute clothes and stuffed animals. Also, I bought you a charm for exam success.”

My parents unfolded their carrier bags in the living room and brought out bags of souvenirs. It must have been a lot of fun since the excitement was higher than usual. My brother just observed the two of them silently.

“For Makoto, I bought you an ornament and a water clock.”

“Thank you…”

In the morning, my brother removed the handcuffs from me while leaving more disturbing words, “Well, because they will be home, for now”.

About half a day had passed since then, and for some reason, my brother didn’t look well. 
He was in good spirits until our parents came back, and after the two of them returned, he seemed to be in a bad mood, but it didn’t seem like he was in poor health.

“Do you want to eat manju?”

“No thanks.”

When I tried to feed him manju, he kindly refused. When I tried to give him a clenched fist this time, my brother solemnly opened his lips.

“Dad, Mom. There is something important that I need to say, can I have a moment?”

Tension ran through the friendly atmosphere. My parents, who were diligently sorting souvenirs to give to neighbours and co-workers on the living room floor, turned their bodies toward my brother looking tensed as if a string was pulling them. Somehow, it felt like they were being puppeteered…

My brother kneeled in front of them and fixed a calm gaze on them both.

“I, have decided to go out with Mai.”

My parents were stunned by my brother’s words. I was dumbfounded too. I was wondering if we would somehow start dating now, but I didn’t think he would tell my parents right now. Even if we told them after waiting for a while… of course, my parents would still be confused. However, my brother continued to talk with a crushed expression on his face.

“My feelings are not half-hearted.”

“Makoto… is that true…?”

“Yes. I understand for father and mother, Mai is the only one in this world, an irreplaceable family member, so I know that such feelings would not be excused.”

When my father asked him, my brother carefully answered him in detail.

My parents looked at my brother with heartbroken expressions and listened quietly.

“I always thought of giving up many times. Even though we’re not related by blood, Mai still sees me as family. But I see her as a girl. Isn’t that a cruel betrayal? Even to father and mother. Thinking that I would be the one who destroys this family’s harmony, it hurts… But yesterday, Mai told me that she liked me.”

I had seen my brother chatting with our parents many times, but I’d never seen him talk so seriously. It seemed that our parents were thinking the same thing because they looked somewhat restless. But wait, I didn’t confess yesterday. When I peeked into my brother’s face wondering what that was about, my body froze.

“Even if I tried to hang myself or cut my wrists, I still wanted to live. Thinking that I wanted to be more filial to my father and mother, my tears overflowed and I can’t… I’m sorry.”

Listening to my brother’s trembling voice, our parents had tears in their eyes. “It’s fine, say no more”,  “It’s okay, we’ll support you two.” Even if they called out to him, my brother wouldn’t stop bowing his head.

“I’m so sorry… father, mother.”

My brother was laughing. His shaking shoulders and trembling voice were not because he held back his tears. But it was all to hide his smile. The corners of my brother’s lips were turned up. And the only one who could see it was me who was diagonally behind my brother.

At first glance, it looked like a touching scene between parents and their son, but it was actually just like a criminal confession. Please read this at ChocoCats.

“It’s okay, Makoto.”

“Father and mother are on your side!”

After our parents said so, my brother hugged them.

My brother looked at me and mouthed,  “Let’s talk about it all later, okay?” and smiled confidently as if he had won.

Just right at that moment I really wanted to say, ‘Dad, Mom, this person is deceiving you’.

Rather, I was wondering if my brother’s personality from the very beginning was this distorted, even before his killing impulses and death game plan appeared.

My brother currently didn’t look like “a son who fell in love with his sister and feels sorry for their parents”, but more like he was looking down on our parents. As if looking at garbage. Thinking back, the day before yesterday, he laughed scornfully and said something like “it’s a little worrying for those two parents to be that naive”, while looking at the calendar.

“Mai, father and mother said they will forgive us… They said we can stay together. So, Mai, let’s get married when you graduate from college. I’m serious.”

“That’s right, Mai-chan… Don’t worry… Both your father and mother will support you…”

“We’re with you! It’s okay!”

My brother’s words made my parents look at me and call out to me. As I approached them confusedly, my parents hugged me and my brother tightly and gave us their blessings for the future. Then my brother stared at me as if looking at a void, and said “isn’t that good, Mai.” Please read this at ChocoCats.

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“Why did you tell mom and dad?”

“Because, once Mai enters high school, it will probably seem strange for us to always walk together. Besides, it’s easier to get married if I tell them beforehand now.”

After finishing my brother’s emotionally moving drama, I headed to his room. Then, as if expecting it, my brother was waiting for me with a nonchalant face. Please read this at ChocoCats.

Even when he would hold my hand, I was concerned about his ability to influence the room so that he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable with his surroundings, but I didn’t expect him to perform this flawlessly.

“Even so, it was so funny. For them to say they will support us…”

Nonchalantly saying so with a calm face, my brother stuffed my mouth with manju. Delicious. No, wait, I mean no matter how I see it, he was a really unexpected person.

Besides, even though until now my brother just had a slightly mocking attitude, now he was completely laughing at me.

“By the way, I never heard about this marriage.”

“…You don’t like it?”

My brother muttered quietly, suddenly looking lonesome. I was sitting in front of my brother who was standing, so I automatically looked up. Somehow this feeling was very…

“Is the idea of marrying me, really that unpleasant?”

“Well… If only we were to do things in the proper order…”

“By proper order, you mean, like holding hands first then hugging, and so on?”

Suddenly, my brother’s eyes changed colour and he grabbed me who had stood up by my hand. This was a pretty bad situation. When I backed away to escape, I was pulled by the arm into his embrace. As if being pushed from behind, our bodies were flush against each other without any gaps.

“Uwaa…”

“Last time, when Mai peeked when I was changing clothes, your heart throbbed like this, didn’t it…?”

“I didn’t peek, it was just Onii-chan being an exhibitionist. Anyway, let me go, my heart will stop if you keep doing this!”

It was an incident that I would never forget. When I opened the door, I found my brother with all the buttons on his shirt unbuttoned, and then he grabbed my arm and cornered me against the wall. My heart was about to burst and I was on the verge of dying. After that, I thought about getting revenge. I was thinking if my brother was going to bathe, I would put on a waterproof costume… a beach ball costume and jump in the bath with him, but I didn’t have enough money to pull it off. I would definitely do it next time. Please read this at ChocoCats.

“You won’t die from this much. From now on, I’m going to do more amazing things in order for you.”

My brother traced my nape and brought his face closer.

“The first time when you were asleep, it was on your forehead, and the other day on the  cheek, but this time will be the first time on the lips, so remember it properly.”

“Eh, ah, ehh? Uh…”

When I was trying to complain, our lips overlapped. As I stood still, unable to move a single step, my brother’s face separated from mine.

“…”

“What’s wrong, Mai? Your face is bright red.”

“Of course it is!? Or rather, what did you do on my forehead? I don’t know about that! What did you mean when I was sleeping!?”

“Here, like this, I kissed you.”

Being held from the back of my head, I was kissed again on the forehead. The sound of his lips parting my forehead made my heart feel like it was being crushed, and my brother chuckled. What is this… I was being played on completely. Even though it was me who wanted to surprise my brother.

“I’ll slowly make it longer, so remember to breathe.”

“… Onii-chan, wait a minute.”

I lightly touched my brother’s cheek, who laughed happily and brought my face closer to him. And with rebellious intent and my usual sense of surprise, I kissed him. Please read this at ChocoCats.

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T/N: Hello, I have no words to apologise any more, it’s really late I know. Things in real life really really make me wish I could just drop everything and throw myself into the sea. But I’m still here, so I will keep doing my best to finish whatever I had started. I hope you all doing well, I sincerely thank you for every comment and ko-fi you guys send me, it’s all that makes me keep moving on. I always read the comments one by one, even though I can’t reply to them all, I really appreciate the thought and it makes me happy to think you guys enjoyed this series. Thank you, everyone.
Anyway, see you in the next chapter, and have a great day.

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