I'm Being Threatened by My Sister's Ex-girlfriend. (GL) - Chapter 9

In a room with air conditioning, I twisted the cap off a bottle of iced barley tea, drenched in sweat.

I dropped one piece of ice from the freezer into each uneven cup. The cool, crisp sound of ice clinking echoed.

Turning around, I asked just to be polite.

“Do you want a mug or a glass?”

“Umm…”

“Just so you know, it’s the same drink. Barley tea.”

“Then, I’ll go with a mug.”

I placed a pale pink mug on the small table. Even though she looked cool and composed, Hakobe was clearly thirsty. She eagerly grabbed the handle and took a few sips.

Her drinking style was pretty impressive.

I absentmindedly watched her throat move up and down as she drank.

Today, she was wearing a loose T-shirt and a denim skirt. The T-shirt had a print of a mysterious creature that looked a bit like a cat. Now that I looked closer, it was the same character she always sends me as a stamp. It might be popular somewhere I don’t know about.

“Just so you know,”

I decided to say what I had prepared in advance.

“No photos or videos, okay?”

“Eh?”

“No, seriously, no photos or videos.”

So she was planning to take pictures. I wasn’t about to give her more material to blackmail me with.

“By the way, what kind of clothes did you bring?”

“Ugh, don’t make it sound weird. I brought one perfectly decent outfit.”

“Really?” I replied, sounding unimpressed.

Seeing my reaction, Hakobe grinned and lifted the corners of her mouth.

“Did you expect something inappropriate?”

“Shut up, idiot. There’s no way I expected that.”

Despite saying that, to be honest, I felt a little let down. I hadn’t planned on letting her take pictures of me, but I had thought about sneaking in a selfie (edited, of course) and posting it on social media.

“What kind of cosplay is it? A mobile game character?”

“It’s my high school uniform.”

“Huh?”

Wait, is that cosplay? Well, I guess it kind of is. A university student wearing a high school girl’s uniform. Makes sense. It’s a uniform. But… a uniform?

From her Boston bag, a neatly folded blouse and checkered skirt appeared.

It was a familiar navy and light blue checkered pattern. I’d never worn it, but I knew it well. This uniform was one of the countless dreams I had in high school that never came true.

“That uniform is…”

“It’s the Mihama University High School uniform.”

Hakobe added this calmly.

“In other words, it’s my uniform.”

I almost let out a strange sound, but I managed to hold it in.

After the ribbon tie, a black spray can appeared. A one-day hair dye, easy to use. It’s the kind of product job-seeking students use to darken their hair before interviews. Conveniently, there was also a black paper poncho.

The Mihama University High School uniform. Black hair dye. I finally understood what kind of cosplay this was. A wave of dread ran down my spine.

In high school, Ichika had black hair.

“I also looked into wigs, but none of them seemed right. They were more expensive than I thought.”

Hakobe’s voice seemed to echo from far away. She hesitated before looking at my face and said softly,

“Um… is it really a no-go?”

“…Well, I guess it’s not really a no, but…”

“Then, please.”

The look in her eyes was completely Serious, earnest even. It was seriously crazy.

Without thinking, I nodded. Hakobe let out a small sigh of relief, almost as if she was glad.

“Alright then, let’s begin.”

Hakobe stood up and placed a small mirror in front of me. She then moved behind me and draped a poncho over my head. The paper material brushed against my neck, making it a little ticklish.

I heard the sound of a spray can being shaken behind my ear.

“Please don’t move. It’s my first time doing someone else’s hair.”

I realized what she meant by “someone else’s.”

“You dye your hair yourself?”

“Yeah.”

A soft “shoo” sound followed as she sprayed the dye. In the mirror, I could see Hakobe’s fingers gently combing through my hair.

I could have easily done the black dye myself, using the spray. But for some reason, I just didn’t feel like doing it on my own.

The touch of her slender fingers in my hair was surprisingly pleasant.

“When did you start with the inner color?”

“I think it was fall of my first year in high school… two years ago.”

“That’s a bit rebellious. Did anyone get mad?”

“At Mihama High, they’re pretty flexible about things like hair and clothes. As long as your grades are good, you’re fine.”

Now that she mentioned it, I think Ichika had said something similar.

“But surprisingly, no one really goes all out with it. Since it’s an affiliated school, everyone gets a recommendation for Mihama University, but whether you can get into the department you want depends on your grades. Plus, there are a lot of serious students.”

“So, you stand out, right?”

“Oh yeah, definitely.”

There was a bitter undertone to her words.

“I really stick out.”

I figured as much. Honestly, I even thought it was inevitable.

In any school community, there’s always room for someone who steps outside the norm. But I didn’t think Hakobe would be the type to fit into that space.

With her appearance and personality, she would likely be treated like the “troublemaker.”

“But it’s fine. I dye my hair because I like it.”

If she truly did it for herself, there was nothing to say. I wasn’t a teacher or a guardian. She was free to do what she wanted.

But I couldn’t say that because I sensed there was something more behind her choice of color.

A deep, vibrant indigo blue.

Ichika’s favorite color.

“Ichika said it was pretty. That’s all that matters.”

“…I see.”

For some reason, I felt irritated by her voice, which was like a child showing off a hidden treasure. A little nastiness crept into my thoughts. There was no one left to praise that blue hair. She’d been abandoned. Why was she still clinging to it?

“You broke up, but you didn’t change it back?”

The fingers that were stroking my hair suddenly stopped.

“Isn’t that why you got dumped? You were too heavy, too much of a hassle.”

“Shut up.”

I couldn’t help but tilt my head and look up at Hakobe.

Her usual calm expression was completely stripped of all emotion. Only her dark eyes were shifting, filled with a simmering frustration deep inside her.

I swallowed hard.

After a moment, she let out a long breath and spoke.

“Um… I’m sorry.”

“No, I… I should also—”

Hakobe paused with her hand still mid-motion, and then she began speaking quietly.

“You were right about me. I’m heavy and troublesome. That’s probably what went wrong.”

“…’Wrong’ is not the right word. That’s just your personality. It’s a matter of compatibility.”

Hakobe placed a hand on my shoulder. Her fingers tightened, and though her nails dug into my skin, I endured it.

“I only had Ichika-senpai, but for her, it wasn’t the same. I couldn’t handle that.”

“You’re saying she cheated?”

“No… It wasn’t anything like that. It was more… the emotional weight was just different.”

“I kind of get it. Ichika’s exactly that kind of person.”

A soft breath escaped Hakobe’s lips.

“You can understand with just that explanation?”

“How long do you think I’ve been Ichika’s twin? I’ve seen my fair share of her… victims.”

Ichika Shinonome is the sun.

She shines brightly, and her light doesn’t discriminate. But she doesn’t care about the people she illuminates.

She responds if someone calls out to her, but she will never belong to anyone. She exists in a place untouched by dark emotions like obsession or jealousy. She’s loved by everyone, and regardless of gender, she has an effortless way of drawing people in.

That’s who she is.

“How should I put it… If there’s a girl reading a book in the corner of a classroom, Ichika’s the type to walk right up to her and start a conversation. She’s the only one who can ignore all groups and social pressures like they don’t exist. What is it? Does she have some kind of aura?”

“I totally get that.”

“And then, she reads the books or manga people suggest and shares her thoughts on them. And she’ll even walk home with you. Of course, you’d end up falling for her. Not in a weird way, though.”

“Right.”

“But that’s just Ichika being Ichika. She does that with everyone. Of course, there are people she doesn’t get along with, and she’ll avoid them. But I think her tolerance is wider than most people’s.”

“So, it’s fair.”

“Yeah. Fair and equal.”

From one angle, she could be seen as a people-pleaser. But no matter what, Ichika never steps outside the circle of people around her.

The one who gets hurt is actually the person who’s been in her shadow. After experiencing the warmth of the sun, it’s heartbreaking to stay in the shadow alone.

And when that person finally breaks, they end up confronting Ichika. They criticize her, sometimes even lash out.

They demand to know why she was so kind to them.

“Because Saito-kun looked lonely.”

It was back in elementary school. I remember seeing a classmate crying after Ichika said that to him.

He was probably in love.

After we entered different high schools, we didn’t talk much about school. I thought maybe Ichika had retired from being the “sun person,” but apparently, I was wrong.

“Ichika’s a bad girl, isn’t she?”

I expected her to get angry, but the Hakobe in the mirror was actually smiling.

“I know.”