I've been feeling troubled lately.
More than troubled, really—just flustered and restless, my heart racing at every little thing.
A teenage boy like me should welcome this kind of blush-inducing situation. Who wouldn't want a fuzzy connection to bloom into sweet romance?
But things aren't like that at all.
The one making my heart pound isn't a classmate sitting next to me, a cool tsundere upperclassman, or a clingy devilish underclassman. It's my stepsister.
She's my stepsister with no blood relation, but I've always treated her like a real little sister. Until recently, we weren't close at all—we still had that awkward distance from when we first met.
Still, we talked casually enough: greeting each other, calling one another for meals, handing over a towel when washing our faces… The more I say it, the more I sound like I'm making excuses.
Anyway, our parents, who'd been worried sick we'd ignore each other or even fight, finally relaxed.
Honestly, though, our relationship never went beyond that. My sister never talked about herself, never chatted with me, never asked for help with homework. When I found out she was a top student, always ranking in the top ten, I felt pretty defeated. Later that turned into quiet pride—as expected of my sister—but it still felt complicated. With things so lukewarm, I couldn't exactly brag about it.
At home, she spent most of her time on the living room sofa, on her phone or talking to friends. On weekends, she holed up in her room, barely showing her face all day. For a while, I thought she was just a shut-in.
One day I knocked to call her for dinner, and when she didn't answer after several tries, I opened the door.
Inside, I found her grinning like a total fangirl, headphones on, watching a handsome male VTuber on her computer.
I immediately stepped back out, closed the door quietly, then went downstairs and told Mom with a straight face that my sister was studying and didn't want to be disturbed. Mom grumbled a little, then wrapped her meal and put it in the fridge.
The next morning at breakfast, she shot me suspicious looks. I just ate calmly, ignoring her gaze, not giving anything away.
I thought she'd ask after school, but she was more impatient than I expected. Right before we left for school, she stopped me at the entryway and hesitantly asked if I'd gone in her room the night before.
I told her I'd knocked, gotten no response, and just gone downstairs. I covered for her, saying she didn't need to thank me. She stared at me suspiciously for a while, then sighed in relief when she couldn't tell I was lying.
After that, she went back to treating me like a nobody. She skipped off to school alone, not even a thank you. I was a little annoyed, but seeing that unexpected side of her was pretty funny.
That was the impression I had of my stepsister: a shut-in who was somehow also a model student. A bit jealous, but also proud—even if she was only my stepsister. We had no blood ties, had lived together only three or four months, and our relationship was distant, but she still felt like family. I didn't hold it against her. Still, I'd once imagined my stepsister would be a clingy little girl who followed me everywhere. That was just a fantasy.
So when my sister started acting strange lately, at first I thought it was just accidents—and looked away.
She'd flip her hair to reveal her fair back when I walked past. She'd stroll right in front of me wrapped only in a towel after a bath. She started wearing skirts she'd never put on before. She began caring about her appearance, buying foundation, lipstick, and all kinds of makeup even though she'd never worn any before…
To be honest, my sister is really pretty. She has short, soft blue hair like willow branches, clear eyes, long lashes, a small delicate nose, pale rosy skin, tiny hands, and slender fingers. She looks like a dainty little doll. She never seemed even slightly seductive before—just fresh and cute.
But she's been showing up around me more and more often. I'm starting to wonder: is this "unintentional" behavior actually on purpose?
My stepsis has been acting a little seductive lately, and I'm really troubled.