It Seems That the Word Cute Was a Deadly Poison to the Girls Who Were Despised as Ugly Women in a World Where Beauty and Ugliness Are Inverted
A few minutes, maybe even a few tens of minutes had passed.
With Yuuma holding her in his arms, Karei had let out all the emotions she had been building up inside of, and she raised her head.
“I’m sorry, I can’t believe I cried in someone’s …… chest, even a boy’s chest.”
“It’s fine. I felt like I was being relied on, so I was happy.”
“You’re not afraid to say that again, are you?”
Yuuma gives a wry smile as she sighs.
He was trying to comfort her, but before he knows it, he has taken the lead. Is this because he’s kind, or is he just weak when it comes to cute women?
Gently stepping away from Yuma, she picked up the cup, which had cooled completely, and took a sip.
More than the taste, more than the temperature, it is a calming ritual.
“I’d better go home.”
The clock on the wall reads just before 18:00.
After confirming this, Yuuma felt a faint sense of fatigue clinging to his body.
“…Could you stay with me a little longer, Y-Yuuma?”
That one word quietly changed the air in the room.
“Hee ……?”
When Yuma turned around without thinking, a voice reached his ears, as if to follow up.
“I said, I asked you to stay with me.”
He hadn’t misheard. He knew that.
But it wasn’t the content of what he said that stuck out most to him.
He was aware that she had been calling him “Kanna-kun” up until now, but suddenly she had called him “Yuma.”
“Um, …… Karei-san. You just called my name …….”
“Is that bad? It’s normal to call someone close to you by their first name, right?”
“Isn’t that too abrupt,……!”
As Yuuma spoke up, Karei’s mouth slowly curved into a smile.
It was a gentle smile, and somehow it resembled that of a winner.
“Yuuma, you think I’m cute, don’t you?”
“….. yes.”
“I also think you’re very cool.”
Karei speaks straightforwardly and without hesitation.
That’s why her next words drastically change the atmosphere in the room.
“I think this means we are in love with each other.”
“Isn’t that too big a leap?!”
Yuma exclaimed, unintentionally making himself float a little.
The conclusion is too abrupt and her head can not catch up with it.
I had thought of our relationship as perhaps just that of friends, but her words seemed to go beyond that stage and presented the answer as if it were a fait accompli.
Karei did not turn her head, but looked as if she had said the obvious.
There was no malice in her expression. However, I don’t think it was only good intentions.
Was Karei such a strange girl?
Confusion, discomfort. And a little bit of hope.
It was at that moment when Yuma was desperately trying to suppress these swirling feelings in his chest.
“I’m home~Mashiro~? Mom’s home~”
What echoed through the walls was the soft, prolonged voice of a woman.
The quiet air in the room was broken only slightly.
The relaxed call made Yuma and Karei’s gazes turn toward the door at the same time.
(…… This is pretty bad, isn’t it?)
A man alone in her daughter’s room. And he was wearing a school uniform.
From the point of view of a mother who knows nothing, the situation alone is more than enough to mislead.
Although he was actually brought to the house, it was hard to believe that such an excuse would be accepted.
As Yuma’s anxiety was showing in her eyes, Karei took a deep breath and stood up as if nothing had happened.
“Welcome back, …… mother.”
Yuma’s escape route was quietly blocked by Karei.
All that remained was to wait for her mother to appear.
At the moment he thought this, a bead of sweat trickled down Yuma’s spine.
Soon, the door separating the hallway from the room opened with a quiet click.
“There you are, Mashiro ……eh?”
The woman who appeared was a petite woman with an air of glamour about her.
Her glossy, semi-long black hair sways and her skin is agelessly bright.
She was wearing a pale lavender cardigan and an elegant one-piece dress. The loose silhouette of the dress did not hide the lines of her body.
For a moment, Yuma’s gaze is drawn to the well-developed face and ample bosom that resembles Mashiro’s. But the next moment, he reverses his gaze and looks at her.
However, the next moment, her gaze stopped on Yuma.
“I’m sorry for interrupting …….”
The voice of Yuma, who quietly bowed his head, was a little hoarse.
“Eh… a boy…? Why…?”
The woman shifted her eyes to Mashiro and let out a voice that could not hide her confusion.
In response to her question, she told her in a very natural tone.
“Mom, this is my boyfriend, Yuma.”
“No, I’m not!”
While his denial dissolved in the void, Mother’s gaze remained fixed on Yuma.
The silence was filled with bewilderment, surprise, and something that could not be measured.
“…… Eh, eh? Mashiro’s boyfriend? And …… it’s been years since I’ve been greeted by a boy looking me in the eye,…….”
“No, that’s not true. It’s just a lie”
“Oh, after all that passionate confession. Do you want to tell me it was a lie?”
“ …… can’t deny it.”
“You’re so close……, are you serious?”
“It’s a misunderstanding!”
Karei’s mother was confused at first, but now she was completely amused and had joined in the conversation.
Yuma silently picked up the cup and drank the cold tea in one gulp.
“I’m going home today.”
Softly but clearly, Yuma states his intention.
“No. You’re my boyfriend, you should at least eat dinner.”
“Yes, you’re right~, I’m welcome too. Right, Yuma kun?”
Their voices overlap. The sound was so natural and irresistible.
But Yuma shook his head, mobilizing what little reason remained in his body.
“I’m glad to hear it, but maybe another time. I’m tired after being sick.”
“…..I see.”
Kaeri’s voice drops slightly.
Noticing the change, Yuuma hastily adds more.
“Don’t look like that, karei san. I’ll come and play again next time.”
“… Call me Mashiro. … I’m not letting you go until you say so.”
Yuuma gasped softly, pressured by the absolute determination in her gaze.
“… M-Mashiro.”
The lips of Mashiro silently arched as she heard her name called out.
It was as if to say, I’ve finally got it now.
The air in the room was now hers.
After saying goodbye to Mashiro and her mother with a slight bow of the head, Yuma headed home after walking for several minutes along a gentle slope.
The sky was already tinted with an azure color, and the remnants of after-school hours were still lingering in the air.
There were only a few people walking along the street, and the evening was somewhat too quiet.
The time displayed on the phone was 18:36.
It was just around dinner time.
However, rather than the sound of a hungry stomach, what was weighing down Yuma’s steps was a different kind of tiredness.
“I’m so tired when I feel relieved.”
With a self-deprecating smile creeping into his mumbled words, he unlocked the front door, took off his shoes, and climbed the stairs one step at a time.
When he finally put his hand on the doorknob of his room, a faint voice and the presence of someone leaked from the room.
Fearfully opening the door, Yuma was speechless at the sight before him.
“….Why are you here, Rio nee and Hiyori?”
Lying side by side on Yuma’s bed were two family members, an older sister and a younger sister.
Rio was dressed in a pale pink lounge dress with open shoulders and her slender legs crossed in a leisurely manner.
Hiyori was wearing a loose-fitting parka and shorts. The sleeves were so long that they almost hid her hands.
Both were so natural-looking that they were sharing a blanket and relaxing as if it were their own room.
“Welcome back, Yuma~.”
Rio laughed lightly while stretching,
“Welcome back, onii chan”
Hiyori smiled at him.
“… What? I’m home… This is my room, right?”
I looked behind me, but all I saw was a familiar hallway.
“It seems like I came home by mistake…”
“Huh? The secret to happiness is not to worry about the little things, you know?”
“Come over here, onii chan. There’s a free bed.”
Hiyori tapped the space next to her and invited me in.
“…Hiyori aside, Rio-nee was avoiding me…”
As he said it out loud, the events of that morning came back to Yuuma’s mind.
That time, Rio had come over to him… and in the heat of the moment, he’d kissed her on the cheek.
The way she had turned her back on him without saying a word was something that had stuck in Yuuma’s mind.
(After all, that was …… angry, wasn’t it?)
“Hmmm, me? Avoiding Yuma?”
Rio tilted her head while lying down.
“That’s right. About this morning and…”
Rio chuckled while Yuma was at a loss for words.
“No, no. Actually, I love you… I don’t think I can see any other guy besides Yuuma anymore.”
“That would be a problem.”
A voice that sounded neither embarrassed nor confused naturally escaped my mouth.
It wasn’t a rejection — just that made me feel a sudden lighter in my chest.
“You’re the only one who gets all onee chan. Talk to me too, onii chan.”
Hiyori’s cheeks puffed up, and she turned a stoic gaze toward Yuma.
She probably didn’t like the fact that him constant interactions with Rio were constant.
She got up from the bed and came over silently with a thud.
“I thought you didn’t like being touched……?”
The memory of Hiyori this morning comes to mind, crying just from touching her head.
“I’m ugly” – those words are still clear in his mind.
But now she is closing the distance without hesitation.
As if it were a matter of course, she leaned in close beside him.
“I’m …… fine today. Maybe now I can …… be touched.”
“I’m just trying to be a normal brother though.”
“….. usually you don’t say pretty to a girl like me, do you?”
Yuma’s breath caught.
That one word had meant so much to her.
Now, he finally understands.
In this world, even such words are a relief.
What a difficult place to live.
“Oh, cheating. The seat next to Yuma is mine.”
Rio leaned forward from the bed and reached out her hand to Yuma.
“You got a kiss this morning, right? Give it to me.”
Hiyori quickly raised her voice, brushed Rio’s hand away, and moved herself next to Yuma.
“Hey, calm down a bit. The bed is small… do I have somewhere to sit?”
“You just stay there and shut up.”
“Onii chan, just be quiet and be the one being taken care of, okay?”
Their voices overlapped each other. There was no longer any room for objection.
“…… No, um, my opinion is ……”
“Rejected.”
“Null and void.”
The older sister and younger sister each take one hand of his arm and hold it as they should.
“Which one do you prefer, onii chan?”
Hiyori tilts her head sweetly, and Rio also pressures his with just a glance.
The two’s gazes were heavy and piercing, and Yuma gently lowered his eyes.
“Please give me a break.”
The power relationship of Kanna Yuma in this house was quietly but surely decided.
Maiasa