A Nervous Morning
I stood frozen in front of the closet.
There was still plenty of time until our meeting, but I couldn’t stay in bed any longer.
The moment I opened my eyes, my heart started racing. When I tried to deny the reason, my chest only grew tighter.
I reached for a hanger, then stopped.
A dress? A blouse…? No, that would look like I was trying too hard.
Then… just a t-shirt? But if it’s too plain, he might be disappointed.
Wait. Why would I care if Yuto was disappointed…?
Then what would count as not disappointing him?
“What’s wrong with me…”
This was ridiculous. We were only going to look at a car. Why was I this nervous?
In the end, I kept changing outfits, putting them on and taking them off again. I tied my hair up, let it down, tied it again in front of the mirror, then squeezed my eyes shut.
Just think of it like going to the academy. Like any other day. Like it’s nothing special.
No matter how many times I told myself that, the strange flutter beneath my chest refused to fade.
What I finally chose was a white knit sweater and a pale blue flare skirt.
The knit wasn’t skin-tight, but every time I moved it clung softly just below my chest line. The skirt was so light that I worried it might turn see-through in the sunlight.
Even after I finished dressing, I couldn’t leave the mirror for a long time.
Every time the V-neck of the knit slipped off my shoulder and tilted downward, the breeze brushing my skin felt strangely sensitive.
“It’s not like I’m going on a date… Is this really okay?”
But I no longer had the energy or the time to change again.
The girl in the mirror was pretending to be indifferent, yet her eyes kept trembling.
What would he think when he saw this? Would he notice I’d put too much thought into it? Or would he think… I looked pretty?
My thoughts spiraled. The fingers smoothing down the hem of my skirt trembled quietly.
But the fact that time was drawing near was proven by the heartbeat that kept growing faster and faster.
The track beneath my feet bounced with a rhythmic thump.
The early morning air was crisp, yet the cold that reached deep into my lungs strangely stirred something inside my chest.
My mind kept getting noisy.
Before I even put on my running shoes, the scene I’d glimpsed through the cracked door kept replaying.
Yuzuki had been standing in front of the mirror.
She was carefully adjusting her hair tie with her fingertips, smoothing her clothes over her palm, then suddenly staring beyond the mirror with a face frozen in tension.
In that moment, I quietly closed the door without thinking.
We were simply going out to look at a car. And while we were at it, we’d grab lunch outside and come back. That was all.
But Yuzuki was paying an oddly serious amount of attention to this “vague outing.”
Seeing her like that made even my own heart flutter for no reason.
…Watching her prepare with such sincerity, it really did feel like a date.
It was hard to call it a simple outing between siblings. There was a strange atmosphere around Yuzuki.
A subtle pull that made it impossible not to be conscious of her as the opposite sex. I couldn’t put it into clear words, but there was something about her that made a man tense.
Today’s Yuzuki was so special that I couldn’t pretend not to notice.
Maybe that was why the morning air felt unusually vivid.
Every time I breathed in, my chest felt transparently empty, then filled again with a gentle tremor.
Around the time I started my second lap, a bright voice called from behind me.
“Nakamura-kun. You’re early.”
It was Haruka.
She came jogging up, slightly out of breath, still full of energy. The tips of her hair sparkled like dew where the slanted sunlight touched them.
“You said you’d come out in the morning, didn’t you?”
“A promise is a promise~ But I didn’t think you’d actually show up.”
We began running the track again without another word.
The same distance. The same familiar pace.
But my mind kept drifting.
Not to Haruka, but to Yuzuki, who I would soon meet.
Was she doing one last check in front of the mirror right now?
Or was she still flipping through hangers, hesitating again and again?
Maybe she was retying her hair over and over, smoothing the hem of her skirt with her fingertips.
Just imagining her like that made my heart refuse to calm down.
Something inside my chest tickled. My steps felt strangely light.
“Hmm~? You seem to be in a really good mood today.”
Haruka’s playful voice came from beside me.
Only then did I snap back to reality.
My lips tightened. The fantasy that had filled my head must have been too vivid; it had shown clearly on my face.
I quickly looked forward again and cleared my throat.
“By the way, what are you doing today?”
Haruka asked from the side.
It was a casual question for her, but for some reason I hesitated to answer.
“…I think I’m going out with Yuzuki.”
“Ooh~ A sibling date? You two really get along well.”
“...”
Haruka had probably said it as a joke, but those words dug strangely deep.
Sibling date.
Normally, I would have laughed it off.
But the moment I heard it, the phrase sounded almost treacherous.
We were siblings. Family.
If I thought about it normally, I should be able to brush it aside without issue.
But lately, Yuzuki’s behavior kept catching my eye. The way she trailed off at the end of sentences. The expressions that made her look away, the moments she suddenly became irritable then fell quiet. And the subtle tension in every small movement as she prepared to go out.
All of it kept twisting the shell of the word “siblings.”
There were emotions between us that had already crossed some line, emotions that couldn’t simply be called “sibling” feelings.
A faint attraction. The more I denied it, the closer it drew.
…Anyone who wasn’t an idiot would notice.
No. It was impossible not to notice.
The expressions she’d been showing lately, her reactions, the awkward tremble at the end of her words.
That those weren’t simple agitation.
That they were directed at me.
We had never spoken it aloud. Never confirmed it. But emotions have a way of crossing boundaries the moment you least expect it.
And right now, all those tiny clues were clicking together like puzzle pieces.
I couldn’t be the only one feeling it.
Yuzuki must know it too. That the air between us was growing heavier and heavier.
That was what made it so frightening.
Perhaps the two of us were quietly walking side by side toward an inevitable catastrophe.
Struggling not to meet each other’s eyes, yet unable to look away.
Even so, I didn’t have the courage to ignore her or run away.
Instead, I was being drawn in more and more.
My heart raced ahead. My gaze followed. My actions were becoming familiar with it.
And I could never show this openly to anyone else.
Because we were siblings.
A relationship that would bring immediate condemnation the moment anyone found out. A distance that already felt like we had crossed a line where excuses or understanding would never be accepted.
I knew that the instant those feelings left my lips, they would only be labeled as strange and wrong.
So I hid them even more.
So I became even more careful.
But the more I did, the clearer the emotions became.
The harder I tried to suppress them, the more my heart began to beat in its own stubborn shape.
I took a small breath and muttered with my eyes fixed forward.
“…We’re just going to look at a new car together.”
“A car? Are you going to drive?”
“Yeah. It’ll probably make trips to the academy a bit more comfortable.”
“Hehe, just the two of you? That image actually suits you two pretty well, doesn’t it?”
Instead of answering, I only twitched the corner of my mouth slightly.
Haruka glanced at me from the side, then continued in a voice full of mischief.
“Then when the new car comes out, you have to let me ride in it once, okay?”
“…Sure, if the timing works.”
“Really? You promised!”
With that, Haruka ran ahead.
Watching her back, I took a step a beat later.
When I opened the front door, I heard movement inside.
Quiet footsteps and the sound of running water from the kitchen.
I took off my shoes, took a short breath to steady myself, and deliberately walked slowly through the living room.
Yuzuki was standing in front of the kitchen.
White knit sweater and pale blue skirt. The morning sunlight streaming through the window gently bathed her silhouette.
Yuzuki glanced my way, but her eyes quickly returned to the cup in her hands.
“You went for a run?”
Yuzuki stopped washing the cup and looked at me. Her tone was the same as always, but that brief glance carried a strangely suppressed emotion.
“Yeah. Just a little.”
“Then… go wash up quickly. Breakfast… I prepared it. Let’s eat together.”
Her words slowed slightly at the end. The fingertips that set the cup down trembled faintly as they wiped away the moisture.
I couldn’t answer right away and pressed my lips together for a moment.
“…Thank you.”
At that, Yuzuki blinked once, then gave a small nod.
It was an ordinary conversation, yet a quietly trembling aftertaste lingered between us.
I went quietly to my room, changed clothes, and took a quick shower.
The warm water loosened my chilled body. I roughly dried my wet hair with a towel and wrapped it around my shoulders.
Strangely, Yuzuki’s words seemed to linger in my mind longer than the moisture left on my fingertips.
When I came out of the bathroom, Yuzuki had already set the table.
The plates were neatly arranged. Gentle steam rose from the warm miso soup. There were rolled omelets, small side dishes of seasoned vegetables, and freshly cooked rice.
It was a familiar smell, yet somehow it looked more heartfelt than usual.
“Sit down.”
Yuzuki said as she took her seat first.
Her tone was the same as always, but even in that short moment I caught the subtle tremor.
We sat side by side at the table. During the meal, we barely spoke, just like usual.
Only the sound of chopsticks, breathing, and the soft slurping of soup filled the silence.
But I didn’t mind the quiet. Rather, there was a strange sense of relief in it.
After we finished eating, Yuzuki silently cleared the table. I followed by washing the dishes, then spoke as casually as I could.
“Shall we head out soon?”
Yuzuki nodded.
“Yeah. I’ll just grab my bag.”
A little later, she returned to the living room carrying a small, neat bag. The sunlight outside had grown brighter, and light softly spread through her hair.
Before opening the front door, we briefly looked at each other. We both swallowed, unsure what to say.
In the end, I opened the door without a word. Yuzuki stepped out first. I followed, slowly closing the door behind us.
“Wow… there are so many cars.”
Yuzuki murmured in admiration as we entered the showroom.
I didn’t reply, instead watching her profile.
The lighting from the ceiling reflected off the glossy floor, casting mysterious sparkles beneath the pale blue skirt.
“This one.”
I stopped in front of an SUV.
It was almost identical to the model we had looked at together on the tablet yesterday.
Yuzuki quietly came to stand beside it and nodded.
“This is… the one we saw yesterday.”
“Yeah. It looks even better in person.”
I stood beside the car and looked at the driver’s seat. Then my gaze suddenly drifted sideways.
Yuzuki was looking at her reflection in the passenger window with a strangely stiff expression.
It was as if she were trying to judge whether her own face truly belonged in a place like this.
“Get in.”
I sat in the driver’s seat first and closed the door. Yuzuki carefully climbed into the passenger side.
The enclosed space. The air conditioning was off, so the sound of her breathing was startlingly clear.
“…Well, it’s not bad.”
Yuzuki said, but contrary to her words, her fingertips kept smoothing the hem of her skirt for no reason, and her feet kept overlapping and separating again and again.
I pretended not to notice and nodded.
I leaned lightly against the seatback and slowly ran my fingers across the dashboard.
The placement of the navigation and instrument panel, the feel of the gear shifter, the height of the armrest—
After examining the structure in silence for a while, I finally muttered.
“…This should be fine. The driving feel doesn’t seem bad either.”
Yuzuki was quietly watching me from the side.
Her eyes looked as though she had just discovered that I was the kind of person who examined things so carefully.
Then she suddenly asked.
“But Oppa, you don’t even have a license yet. Why do you sound like such an expert?”
I couldn’t answer that it was because I used to drive, so I simply shrugged.
“I studied.”
“Studied?”
“Of course. No matter how much it’s Dad’s money, a car isn’t cheap. I can’t just buy anything on impulse.”
Yuzuki let out a small laugh at that.
“Well, that’s true. Anyway, you think this one’s okay?”
“Yeah.”
Even though I said that, we looked at a few other models just in case.
We checked out slightly smaller cars, larger ones, even sports models, but we eventually returned to the same SUV.
“We came back to this one after all.”
“That just means it’s that good.”
I looked around, then approached a showroom employee and asked a few questions. The employee kindly explained the stock availability and option list.
“The base model is available for immediate delivery. If you add all the options, it would be a factory order, so delivery would take roughly four to six weeks.”
“So adding customization options would take over a month.”
Yuzuki murmured softly while looking at me.
I nodded.
“Well… a month is…”
At that moment, the employee flipped through the tablet and continued.
“If the two of you are a couple, I recommend the reclining seats or ventilated seats. It’s the most popular combination among couple customers these days.”
I swallowed sharply at those words.
Yuzuki blinked, then silently turned her gaze toward the car window.
Thanks to that, an awkward atmosphere settled in, and the employee tilted his head in confusion.
“…Still, comfort is what matters.”
I said that while flipping to the next screen on the tablet, thinking that I wasn’t even sure who those words were meant for.