My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex

Ah, high school. Is there any better place to start fresh after a horrible middle school relationship? Nope! Not unless your ex ends up at the same school as you and is now your stepsibling. What was supposed to be a sanctuary of peace where I could avoid ever seeing her again has become a living nightmare! Everywhere I look, I see her—in my house, in my school, in my class. There's no escape! She even claims that she’s the older sibling. Like hell she is! But I won't lose to her. After all, I'm the older brother in this new family situation. That’s right, we’re family now. No matter how much we may have thought we loved each other before, we saw one another’s true colors and realized we weren’t meant for each other. That’s why even though we may keep up a buddy-buddy sibling act for the sake of our parents, things will never go back to the way they used to be.

High school was supposed to be a fresh start—new school, new me. I should be basking in the glory of my new found popularity and placing top of my class, but I can’t. That’s because I have to live with my stupid ex, Mizuto Irido, who is also my little stepbrother now. For the sake of our newlywed parents, we’re pretending to be best friends, but behind the scenes, we hate each other’s guts and would like nothing more than to see the other crash and burn. We once thought we were deeply in love, but that was nothing but a folly of youth—a mistake that neither of us were keen on repeating. He never really understood me, even when we were dating. Nowadays, he still acts like he knows me, but that’s all it is—an act. All he saw— No, all he’s ever seen has been a plain-looking girl who shared a hobby with him. If someone else who fit that description asked him out, what would stop him from saying yes?

Yo. I’m Kogure Kawanami, and my life’s a living hell ’cause I live next door to my psycho ex. She may look small and innocent, but she’s got more than a few screws loose. Right now, she’s totally obsessed with my friend’s stepsister, Yume Irido. I thought she wanted to become Yume’s sister-in-law, but now she’s tryin’ to hook up some busty chick with Irido! Doesn’t matter, ’cause it’s not gonna work anyway! The Irido siblings have a strong, unbreakable bond. Trust me—my shipping radar never fails. They won’t end up like us. True love will prevail!

Your first kiss is something you remember your entire life. The awkwardness, the embarrassment, the knowledge that things will never be the same between you again...and more than anything, the absolute bliss of that special moment. Despite how things turned out between us, our first kiss is burned into my mind. Similarly, you never forget your first love. I know I haven’t. Mizuto was mine, but would he say the same about me? Surely he doesn’t think his first love is this extroverted college girl who has her act together, right? So why is he following her around like a little puppy?! Argh, why do I even care?! We broke up. We’re stepsiblings now. There aren’t any lingering feelings between us. So how come I can’t stop thinking about our first kiss? Maybe if I’d been more assertive... No. There’s no reason to dwell on the past. I need to focus on what’s ahead, like our family trip to his father’s hometown...

G-Greetings. For those unaware, I am Isana Higashira, Mizuto-kun’s best friend, aka the girl whose advances he most recently spurned. There’s clearly been a development in his relationship with his stepsister, Yume-san, during their family trip, but it’s of no concern to me. After all, I simply wish to continue being his friend. Strangely enough, others have been assuming that my own relationship with Mizuto-kun has evolved, in a sense. Some, in fact, are under the assumption that we’ve become romantic partners! Very curious indeed. However, I’m content with our current relationship, and I’m positive that he is as well. No matter what pressure we find ourselves under or what salacious situations we wind up in, we will always remain the best of friends, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Of that, I am...certain.

Now that things have gone back to normal with Isana, I can finally focus on the thing that’s been on my mind—that kiss. What the heck is going on with that girl?! Why would she do that? There’s no way she actually has feelings for me...right? We broke up. We’re stepsiblings...though I guess you could call us stepexes. What am I going to do? What do I even want? Looking at her, she seems different than the girl I dated. But have I changed at all? There were so many things I should have said to her back then. So many things I should have done. Things could have—should have—turned out differently. But it’s too late for “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve.” Well, now that we’ve both been nominated for the festival committee by our class, we’re going to spend even more time together than usual. And a cultural festival is the perfect event to find out what’s what.

As a longtime wallflower, I never thought I’d join a club, let alone the student council. Yet here I am, surrounded by my capable fellow council members. My old self never could have done this, but I’m different. No longer am I the shy Yume Ayai—I’m the bold femme fatale Yume Irido. Okay, maybe I’m not quite there yet, but I’m working on it! I’m well on my way to becoming the type of girl Mizuto would fall for. His heart’s as good as mine!

For the upcoming long weekend, Mizuto and I will be going on our first trip together—to a hot springs inn! Sure, the trip’s planned and funded by the student council president, Suzuri Kurenai, and there’ll be a total of ten people including us...but this could be my chance to move the needle on our relationship! And I’m not the only one wanting to get closer to my crush. President Kurenai, Aso-senpai, and Akatsuki-san all seem to have something serious up their sleeves... Just what is going to happen on our trip to the Arima Hot Springs?

I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to pull out all the stops and get Mizuto to ask me out by the end of the year. Last time, I did it, but now it’s his turn. I know we feel the same way about each other. We just need to take that final step to bring our relationship to the next level. I’m going to pull out all the stops to make that happen. I’m ready.