A Shared Resolve
After leaving the house, we walked side by side in silence for a long while.
The streetlights stretched long shadows across the asphalt, and Yuzuki’s steps were light and cautious, like a ghost’s.
A distance so close it felt like we could touch, yet far enough that neither of us dared reach out first.
We kept that delicate space between us as we walked with careful steps.
“It feels weird when it’s this quiet.”
I was the one who finally broke the silence, unable to bear it any longer. I tried to keep my tone light, not too playful, not too heavy.
“Sorry…”
Even then, Yuzuki let her voice trail off and turned her head away. Her gaze stayed fixed somewhere on the sidewalk, never meeting mine.
In that moment, an indescribable sense of helplessness washed over me.
The way her eyes avoided me didn’t feel like simple avoidance. It looked more like she was hesitating, holding something back.
Because of that, I faltered several times before I could speak again. I was afraid that if I got too close, she might pull away. And if I hesitated too long, she might drift even further.
Yuzuki carried such a fragile atmosphere that a single word or glance seemed like it could shatter her.
At the same time, I couldn’t stand the thought of staying silent. If I didn’t say something now, she might wrap that anxiety around herself and never look at me again.
That idea was somehow unbearable.
So I finally gathered my courage, steadied myself, and slowly opened my mouth.
“…Yuzuki.”
At my call, she slowly lifted her head.
The streetlight cast a faint glow over her hair, and a passing breeze gently tousled the strands.
I gazed at her face for a moment before speaking with care.
“Even now… I’ve been thinking about it since earlier.”
My words flowed out slowly.
“Is it really okay for us to be like this? We’re siblings, yet we’re holding these kinds of feelings for each other. I keep wondering if that’s truly all right…”
I spoke cautiously, hesitating, letting the ends of my sentences dissolve into the air.
But I didn’t look away from her eyes.
“Still…”
I stared straight into her pupils as I finished.
“In this moment, I don’t regret it.”
At those words, Yuzuki stopped walking.
The streetlight’s glow traced softly along the side of her face, quietly revealing the redness around her eyes and the dampness clinging to her lashes.
She really had been crying just before.
Her lips pressed tightly together, her expression tangled with both relief and joy.
After standing there silently for a long time, Yuzuki let out a small breath and finally spoke.
“…Me too.”
It was a tiny voice, like a shallow sigh. She looked into my eyes, her lips trembling as she continued.
“I don’t… regret it either.”
Her voice shook, but it carried a firm emotion beneath the tremor—one that had passed through fear and hesitation and accepted her own choice.
I said nothing, simply gazing at her quietly.
Yuzuki stood in silence as well, yet the feelings held in her eyes reached me clearly.
In that moment, silence told us more than words or glances ever could.
Without needing to explain, we had arrived at the same conclusion.
And so, quietly, we began walking side by side once more.
The distance between us was still close enough to touch, but now it felt one step nearer than before.
Then, suddenly, Yuzuki stumbled slightly.
She lost her balance on an uneven paving stone and swayed. I reflexively grabbed her wrist.
That single abrupt contact made both of us freeze, our breaths catching at the same time.
The warmth of her skin beneath my palm. The faint, trembling pulse.
Yuzuki slowly raised her eyes to look at me.
In the shallow silence, I kept holding on and spoke in a low voice.
“Watch your step. It’s dark at night.”
“Yeah…”
Yuzuki lowered her gaze and nodded. But our joined hands never let go.
We naturally kept our fingers linked as we slowly made our way toward the park.
The silence continued.
Yet within it, emotions far clearer than words now flowed between us.
When we finally reached the bench, Yuzuki sat down first with careful movements. I settled beside her naturally. Our hands remained clasped.
That was when a single thought suddenly brushed through the depths of my mind.
The cold, persistent anxiety that perhaps, in the truest sense, the person Yuzuki loved wasn’t me.
I was merely an existence dwelling inside this body.
I carried the name Yuto, but I wasn’t the real Yuto.
Yuzuki was sitting right beside me now, but who was she truly looking at?
Was it me, or the ‘Yuto’ who lived inside her memories?
Just thinking about it made a dull ache bloom in my chest.
It felt as if I wasn’t the one being loved at all, but merely a stand-in actor who had accidentally stepped into the illusion called love.
I silently wrapped my fingers more deeply around hers.
I was afraid this warm sensation might scatter at any moment.
“…Yuzuki.”
After long hesitation, my low and careful voice melted into the air.
“Then… why?”
I asked, faltering.
“Why did you come to feel this way… about me?”
This question was also a desire to confirm what might be the most terrifying truth of all.
At my question, Yuzuki blushed with embarrassment and lowered her head.
Shadows fell beneath her lashes, and unspoken emotions seemed to pool there slowly.
Then, at last, she spoke with care.
“The first time we did the Coupling… your feelings came rushing into me exactly as they were. They were so vivid, so unfamiliar… it took my breath away for a moment.”
Yuzuki kept her gaze down for a second, pressing her lips tightly together.
“To be honest… at first, I was scared. It was too much to handle, and it felt so strange that it was almost repulsive.”
Yuzuki spoke without hiding the weight of those emotions.
“That’s why I acted even more prickly than usual… kept treating you coldly… I just wanted to ignore it. Because it was wrong from the start… we’re siblings… how could we…”
I watched her in silence.
“But…”
Yuzuki drew in a breath. Her throat moved quietly.
“Remember when I got attacked by an Outer? You carried me on your back and ran.”
I nodded. Yuzuki’s hand tightened around mine.
“At that time… I was definitely terrified, but the moment I was on your back, I felt strangely at ease. I never knew the body heat coming through your back could feel so warm.”
Yuzuki tried to smile but stopped, simply pressing her lips together as she quietly closed her eyes. For a brief moment, old emotions gently seeped across her face.
“…I think it started from then.”
“....”
Hearing those words, relief flooded through me.
The small suspicion and fear that had lingered in a corner of my heart quietly melted away.
The one Yuzuki loved right now wasn’t simply the ‘Yuto’ from her memories. It was the ‘me’ sitting beside her.
I silently squeezed her hand once more.
After a long stretch of quiet time, Yuzuki spoke again.
“Um…”
She seemed to choose her words carefully, looking at me before asking with caution.
“Then… what are you going to do about the research Dad mentioned?”
I blinked.
“You know… the one where he told you to date other girls. All that talk about coupling experiments and whatever…”
Yuzuki’s voice was more serious than it had ever been.
And of course, I knew this question was another problem still left between us.
Feeling the warmth of her hand through our linked fingers, I thought again about how we had ended up like this.
At first, I really had planned to push these feelings away.
No matter what, Yuzuki was still my little sister. And if Father’s research could produce meaningful results, I thought I should help.
But the situation had changed.
If Yuzuki suffered because of it, if she broke down because of me, then no experimental result would mean anything.
Besides, Haruka and Iori existed in this world too.
So there was a vague belief that even without me, they would somehow manage on their own.
Therefore, even if I ended up hated and resented by Father and everyone else…
I felt it was right to choose what Yuzuki wanted.
So I moved my lips and slowly began to speak.
“Yuzuki. If that’s what you want—”
But before I could finish,
“No…!”
Yuzuki cut me off sharply. Her voice was resolute.
Her eyes trembled faintly, and strength flowed into our joined hands.
“That… isn’t a good choice…”
Yuzuki continued, trying to keep her voice steady.
“I’m fine. Really.”
She lowered her head, then forced a smile.
“…You can do whatever you want, brother. I’m okay with it. Really… I’m fine.”
That was what she said, but her shoulders visibly shrank, and the smile on her lips looked as though it might crumble at any second.
This wasn’t strength. It was only a pretense of it.
Because of that, I didn’t know what to say.
The emotion caught in my throat blocked my words, and the sight of Yuzuki trembling before me tightened my chest.
Then Yuzuki spoke again.
This time her voice was much clearer.
“Instead…”
She looked straight into my eyes and said,
“I have a condition too… just like Dad…”
After a brief pause, she continued quietly.
“At least at home… I’ll do whatever I want.”
She lowered her gaze slightly and gripped my hand tighter.
“I don’t care what happens outside… but inside the house, I want you to only look at me.”
