19) Chapter 4. My Popularity!? (4)

“Huh? No, I didn’t watch the show either.”

When I hesitantly asked her at home, Soi answered without hesitation.

“What? You didn’t watch the talk show?”

“I was right next to you, wasn’t I? We share the same room anyway.”

“M‑my room is separate though…”

“Only your clothes are in there. You always sleep in my room. On my bed.”

“……”

When she puts it like that, it sounds weird.

…No, even without saying it out loud, it’s weird. We’re middle schoolers now. Sure, siblings sometimes share a room if the house is small, but Soi’s family is nothing like that.

This house has three unused rooms. On the first floor alone, there’s the master bedroom, Soi’s room, my room, and a dressing room—four rooms.

And there’s a second floor with three more rooms. They barely use half the house.

“Hey, Soi.”

“Mm?”

I called her while sitting at my desk. She was sprawled on the bed scrolling through her phone.

“We… have separate rooms, so maybe it’s time we…”

“Time to what?”

She immediately rolled over to face me, and I shut my mouth without meaning to.

Her energy was overwhelming.

But I still had to say it.

It was weird, wasn’t it?

Let’s say Soi was really lonely when she was little, lonely enough for it to be a trauma. Though with Auntie Yujin and Uncle Dohyun, that probably wasn’t the case—but let’s assume.

Even then, that was when she was little. By middle school, most kids barely remember kindergarten. Meaning, in Soi’s mind, I’m probably just her real little sister. A sibling who’s been with her since her earliest memories.

And sure, siblings can be close.

But people usually want their own personal space, right?

…Not that I dislike being with her.

“Time to…”

“Time to?”

“Never mind.”

In the end, I couldn’t say it.

What if she got upset? I didn’t want to ruin our relationship. We’d barely ever fought—if we fought now, I wouldn’t even know how to fix it.

It’s not like we’ll live together forever. We can’t share a room as adults.

Eventually, we’ll drift apart naturally.

…Somehow, I feel like I’ve thought this exact thing many times before.

“……”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Soi narrowed her eyes, and I flinched.

She still hadn’t awakened her ability, but physically she was already stronger than me. She didn’t even work out—she was just naturally gifted.

“Your uniform.”

“Huh?”

“Rua, that uniform is a bit of a problem, isn’t it?”

“W‑what problem?”

Soi had come home and flopped onto the bed without changing out of her uniform. I’d followed her into the room and completely missed my chance to change too.

So even after school, we were still in our uniforms.

“It’s way too baggy.”

“Baggy?”

I looked down.

It didn’t seem that way.

Most middle schoolers get their uniforms a little loose since they’re still growing.

But Auntie Yujin and Uncle Dohyun didn’t think like that. They never considered such things.

Clothes? If they don’t fit, just buy new ones. Why wear something sloppy?

They had enough money to think that way.

So my uniform wasn’t too big or too small. The skirt reached my knees, the shirt was comfortably loose.

“Nope. Too baggy.”

“Soi, your uniform is the same though…”

“Right. Exactly. That’s what felt off.”

“Huh?”

Before I could say more, Soi jumped up.

“Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“The tailor.”

Her expression was so firm that I couldn’t refuse.

*

And that’s how my uniform got altered.

I’d never altered my uniform in my previous life. Some boys did, but if a quiet kid like me did it, it would’ve looked… bad.

I’d never seen anyone get in trouble for it, but I just didn’t want to. My friends didn’t either.

I always thought it was strange that girls didn’t alter theirs. Some wore heavy makeup and super‑tight clothes—it looked odd to me.

Thinking back, I probably just avoided paying attention to kids who lived in a different world from mine. Getting involved would’ve only led to trouble.

“It’s too tight…”

“No, no, it’s perfect! It suits you so well. Your big sister guarantees it!”

Soi, also wearing a newly tightened uniform, gave me a thumbs‑up.

I felt embarrassed wearing mine, but seeing Soi in hers was even worse. Maybe because I’d known her since childhood.

I couldn’t even look her in the eye. She grinned and slung an arm over my shoulder.

“What, my little sister is shy? Think about it this way. Everyone else wears theirs like this, right? If we wear baggy ones, we’ll stand out. Maybe we were the weird ones.”

“Even so…”

It was still embarrassing.

But what could I do? The uniforms were already altered before I could object.

“What if Auntie Yujin sees…”

“Oh.”

Soi froze.

Right. Auntie Yujin usually let us do what we wanted, but she didn’t like us looking like delinquents.

She wasn’t judgmental—she’d been a hero and worked with all kinds of people—but she was strict about appearances.

“Mm… it’ll be fine… probably?”

She sounded unsure.

“We still have the normal uniforms. We’ll figure something out.”

In the end, we settled on that half‑escape of a conclusion.

Well, it was too late anyway. And the tailor was incredibly fast—done in just a few hours.

If only we’d left the uniforms there and gotten caught before picking them up…

*

We had to carry the uniforms to the tailor, and we had spare clothes, but—

Soi said if we were going to get caught anyway, we shouldn’t sneak around.

So we walked home in our altered uniforms.

Well, she walked confidently. I hid behind her.

“You two…!”

Auntie Yujin’s eyes widened when she saw us—

“Pfft—!”

Then she burst out laughing.

Was that good or bad? Better than yelling, I guess.

Soi and I exchanged glances and decided it was probably fine.

“Well, everyone else wears them like that. I guess I can’t stop you…”

She muttered.

“Mom?”

“I dressed like that at your age too, so I won’t say anything this time.”

“You did?!”

Soi brightened.

“Yeah, well… I did.”

“……”

Uncle Dohyun, sitting nearby, stared off into the distance.

“……”

The atmosphere between them suddenly turned pink, and Soi and I exchanged looks.

Soi’s expression was… complicated. She clearly hated where this was going but was trying very hard not to show it.

We’d stepped on a landmine.

Everyone knows how they were born in theory.

But no one wants to hear about the process.

Soi wasn’t conceived back then, but still—this was clearly a story from their passionate youth. A story that could’ve led to Soi’s older sister being born.

We silently retreated to our room.

Only after closing the door did Soi drag her hands down her face.

“Well, we got permission. Let’s think positively.”

I just nodded.

===
A word from the author (A/N):

Thank you for reading today as well!

Edit

Pub: 11 Mar 2026 02:05 UTC

Edit: 11 Mar 2026 02:10 UTC

Views: 50