V2Ch13: I’ll never forgive you if you apologize after you find out I’ve been falsely accused.

Translator: Soafp

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When I was in the sixth grade, I watched a drama that made me feel uncomfortable.

The story was about a junior high school girl who was mistaken for a thief and was abused by her friends and classmates.

Of course, the protagonist is innocent, and I, the viewer, know the truth through recollections and mental pictures.

I was looking forward to watching the drama every week to see how the protagonist would get back at them and how the people around the protagonist would react when they found out that she was innocent.

………… But this drama betrayed my expectations in a bad way.

The main character easily forgave her friend who came to apologize after learning the truth.

The protagonist forgave his friend, who had torn up his textbooks, beaten her up, and put a vase on her desk, with just one word, “I’m sorry what I have done up until now”.

I was disappointed by the drama, and at the same time I couldn’t understand how the protagonist could forgive someone who had mistreated her so much with just one apology.

[……………]

My sister was watching the drama next to me, and I unintentionally mumbled certain words to her.

[I can’t …… believe that she could forgive someone who did such a terrible thing. I don’t trust people who apologize easily.]

[…… brother?]

[Nagisa and ➖➖➖ don’t be the kind of people to easily apologize when you do something really bad.]

[Y-yes.]

In response, my sister nods at me with a mysterious look on her face.

I think there was another …… someone else, but I don’t remember …… it was Nagisa’s friend, I think.

Since that day, I’ve had a hard time with stories that allow for easy villains.

I can enjoy the reconciliation between rivals in action movies, battle anime, etc., but when real life gets involved in it, it becomes hard for me.

It has caused me a kind of trauma.

—-The reason Nagisa has never apologized to me is because she remembers …… this incident.

That’s why Nagisa avoided contact with me and never apologized. I think she spent more than a year and showed her remorse in her attitude.

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“B-big brother ……”

I haven’t seen my sister since I was hospitalized, and I’m meeting her for the first time in a while.

The last time I saw her was before the summer break of my sophomore year of high school, so it’s been roughly a year and a half since I’ve seen her …….

It’s more of a blur deep in my chest than a nostalgic …….

And I’m here to get rid of this blur.

Now it’s just the two of us in Nagisa’s room.

I asked my mother to leave the room on purpose.

Two people in a small space …… hateful, very hateful.

She didn’t come …… with an easy apology, even though she was in the habit of pushing things that hard. That’s why it was decided we’d at least have a good talk.

Don’t waste time thinking about it……Focus your brain on talking……Hmmm… ……

………

…… Okay!

I shook off the negative memories of Nagisa that kept coming back to me and called out to her, who was looking down in front of me.

“…… Nagisa ……the letter ……”

“………!”

It has been a long time since I called out to her.

Nagisa seemed happy at first, but when she heard the word “letter,” she shuddered.

I knew I was right, there’s no mistaking my catching.

We need to talk about this first.

The letter I wrote when I was broken.

From the way she reacted, the letter must have contained something completely different from what I “thought” I had written.

“Do you still have that letter?”

“……Yes, I’m keeping it.”

If she had thrown it away, it would have been a disaster ahead, but she kept it after all.

Nagisa’s personality was such that she would never throw it away,……, but it made it easier for me to talk to her.

“Can you show it to me?”

“Eh? ……ah, but”

Nagisa is at a loss for words.

Then she continues her words.

“I know about brother’s situation,…… and that you were suffering from an illness back then…………. so you shouldn’t look—“

“What do you mean “back then”? Don’t talk like I’m cured now.”

“………Y-yes.”

I’ve frightened her.

When dealing with Nagisa, I have a strong tone.

I have to somehow keep it under control and talk about it…… but it’s a little hard when I’m face to face and it pisses me off that people think I’m normal now.

I feel like I’m being trampled on for my hardships because they don’t mean to offend me,…… even though that’s not true,…… I’m always like this.

I’m not a monster, I’m a human being, and as long as I keep my cool, I can talk to them normally.

—I clenched my fists.

I gripped it tightly.

Both of my hands clenched tightly.

And then I speak my mind.

“I need to know so I can move on. …… can you show me what I wrote?”

“…………… ugh.”

Nagisa shows a long struggle.

Even as a sister, she doesn’t want to be reminded of the letter.

So, she must be really worried about it.

Then let’s wait until Nagisa’s decision—

And the way she plays with her hair when she’s in trouble is still there as ever.

She no longer wears her hair in childish twin-tails.

It’s long, straight, adult-like hair.

“……………………Okay”

Nagisa finally nodded her head after a long struggle.

She stood up, opened the closet, took out a small box from it, and gently placed it in front of me as I was sitting upright on the cushion.

Nagisa sat down facing me and hesitantly opened the box.

Inside, there are several letters …… and rather a notepad.

“…..Vu”

“……!”

Immediately after opening it, a certain letter catches my attention.

Seeing this, I feel depressed, but Nagisa is holding her mouth the same way.

(This …… really was written by me, isn’t it ……….)

I vaguely remember now.

Nagisa had written a letter ‘just once’ when I was just broken and put it inside my shoe.

It wasn’t an apology or anything, but rather a reassurance that she would never come near me again. It was before she found out I was sick, so I guess she was trying to reassure me as much as possible.

It was a shallow idea, just like a junior high school student.

However, I don’t think Nagisa would have acted that way if she had known I was sick at the time.

And the problem is what comes next.

As if to overstep my sister’s best efforts to be brave,…… I wrote this as a reply

[Die] (シネ)

Two words in katakana.

I couldn’t believe it myself.

But I think it remained in a corner of my mind.

Because I wanted to know what I had written. I guess I remembered that I had unconsciously written something terrible.

And Nagisa didn’t write any more letters after that.

But every morning, I put a notepad with the word “Die” written on it in Nagisa’s shoe, imagining that there was a letter from Nagisa in her shoe.

I thought I had written ‘Impossible’ but in fact it was a different letter.

I should not even be able to go to school.

There was no way Nagisa could go to school if she had such a thing in her shoe every day. Although she had stopped going to school before that, it was the letter that completely broke her heart.

─ ─ This is the debt I owe to Nagisa.

Even now, Nagisa is lying on her face, thinking back to that time. But she doesn’t cry because she’s …… grown up.

Nagisa is getting stronger, just as Mom said she would. And Nagisa had approached me many times to talk to me long before she knew I was falsely accused, but I pushed her away.

She must have been hurt a lot. But it was nothing compared to the pain I felt. Still, the fact remains that I did something terrible.

And at that time, I was able to judge my mother’s words correctly.

So the letter definitely said, “Go to school today” – that’s why she was in such a good mood and skipping.

“—-Unpleasent, to you give this letter”

“No, I’ve been giving you a much worse time than you’ve been giving me. ……”

Nagisa is holding back her tears, but still stares straight at me.

“You must have been really hurt when I wrote you this letter”

“No, I’ve hurt you a lot myself… And now I have to tell you something.”

“…What?”

“……I’m really sorry, …… brother.”

“………………………Ah”

I felt something inside my chest crumble.

It was built up in hell, and it is not a good thing …… such a negative tower is going to collapse.

Now that she has apologized, can I forgive her anymore?

No. …… this apology was something different.

I should loathe Nagisa even if she apologizes, but for some reason it makes it harder for me.

─ ─ I would never forgive her even if she apologized after she found out I was innocent of the crime.

However, like Nagisa’s words now, the words of apology that are filled with feelings resonate in my heart.

The quality of her apology is clearly different from the apologies of those who have apologized to me even after I told them I would never forgive them.

If they take the time to reflect on what they did, I’ll be glad to hear their apology.

…………

………… but I still can’t forgive her.

I know I may be persistent, but it’s not that simple, and I will never forget my resentment towards Nagisa.

However, Nagisa and the student council president were the only two people I could think of to talk to face to face.

The other two were just lightweight apologies that were just to escape the guilt,……, and that was it.

“……H-how is …… school these days?”

I just ended up asking something that didn’t really matter.

I don’t really care …… about my sister’s recent situation, but I was curious. I wondered how she had been doing since then, and if she wasn’t sick of being alone with my sh*tty father.

I didn’t really care, but I was a little curious.

“Y-yes! Yes yes! I have so much to tell you! I’m so happy you’re listening!”

Nagisa then smiled happily when asked.

She seemed to be nervous the whole time, but the question just made her smile. A little niceness and she’s on a roll, as usual.

{Good bye, big brother ……and thank you}

I could hear Nagisa’s voice behind me.

But I don’t think that one is Nagisa …… because she’s talking right in front of me.

But both Nagisa behind and in front of me are definitely my real stepsister.

And—

I felt like I would never see Nagisa behind me again…

Yeah, this finally made her disappear.

I felt a heavy load inside me being shaken off.

I heard Nagisa’s voice coming from behind me, but I didn’t look back until the end.

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