Lemon Incest c12

It was an unannounced, sudden visit. She was worried that something had happened between him and Mio, but he wasn’t acting any different from usual, and the manner in which he announced his unexpected visit didn’t give anything to make her feel that something was amiss; but the way in which he came to visit was odd.

“If you’re busy, I can come back another day.”

She opened her mouth to begin to ask “What’s wrong?” but swallowed back her words. She sensed the presence of the young female secretary pouring tea in the office kitchenette. Until the tea had been brought over to the room, Misao continued with small talk.

Shougo’s well-formed lips turned up into a gentle smile and he chuckled softly.

“Oh, the same as ever.”

“Mio-san’s doing fine. I meet up with her from time to time.”

Her secretary brought tea over to the low table. There was steam rising from the Imari ware cups. Misao said to Shougo: “please, have some.”

“To be honest with you… I came here because there’s something I needed to tell you.”

His eyes met hers unwaveringly and he said this in an expressionless, low voice: “My uncle passed away.”

“When did it happen?” She asked.

“I didn’t know that he was battling a life-threatening illness… what was the cause of death?”

“Were you able to… talk to him?”

“No, I don’t think that’s the case,” she said gently. “She was probably in a state of shock. There are very few people in this world who would be able to calmly go about contacting relatives when someone close to them is on the brink of death. Most people would be confused, and fly into a panic, and when they’d come to their senses, it’d already be too late– there are many cases like this.”

“Did Kanaya-san say anything that made you suspect something like that right before he passed away? Something that makes you suspect that he opened up to his wife about you…?”

“It’s probably the case he didn’t tell anyone about the truth,” Misao said. “I’m quite sure of it.”

“At the funeral service, did you run into any of your relatives from Uchinomiya?”

“Did any of them give the impression that they suspected the truth?”

“The only one who knew the truth was Kanaya-san. And now that he passed away without telling anyone, the one person who could leak out the truth of your real roots to the outside world is now gone. It feels a bit surreal, doesn’t it?”

Misao smiled. “You should just continue to live as you always have— as Iwasaki Shougo. That’s fine. Shimada Takao is no longer on this earth; he didn’t even exist. You should live your life as you have thinking that.”

“I can understand that,” Misao said. “I understand why you would say that. But there’s a beautiful thing about habits. Even something that seems completely disconnected from you, once it becomes a habit, will feel like something that’s been that way since a long time ago.”

“You, Mio and I should get together for dinner some time soon.” Misao said. “Oh… and I’d like to express my deepest condolences about Kanaya-san. I can’t very well go to his house to light an incense stick, so please let me go visit his grave to offer my prayers. I’ll go with Mio, since to both of us, he was someone very important. He was the one who confirmed that you were Mio’s brother, after all…”

I want to have a deep conversation with this person. Misao thought. She wanted to know what this young man was thinking, and how he felt.

The person he had regarded as his mother had been an utter stranger. Not only that, but the person he had considered to be his uncle was in fact someone who had no relation to him by blood. On top of that, a female lawyer and her niece who had suddenly showed up him his life had irrevocably changed his life. She couldn’t imagine the extent of the shock he must have felt.

If that were the case, Misao wished that she could take a look deep into his true feelings. It didn’t matter if what she found there was a fumbling mess; it didn’t matter if all that lay there were confusion. She wanted to know the real him, as told by the person himself.

Did Mio know that Kanaya had passed away…?

Mio and Shougo… they were brother and sister; yet in her mind, the two acted as if they were a couple. There was a passion to their gazes; it was if they were desperately trying to get across to the other what was inside their hearts. They were beckoning… touching… embracing. The extent of her imagination stopped there– it was because any further would be a taboo.

It felt a bit silly to agree to his comment now, but she couldn’t help but think that he was right. If that were the case, what was it that she had done? She had planned to uncover the truth behind what happened to one person; she had wanted to prove that this man named Iwasaki Shougo was Shimada Takao, who had been kidnapped so long ago. What is more, she had reunited him and Mio.

As long as humans were humans, there would be that sediment-like thing that would forever remain submerged at the bottom… and that something was what she was facing right now… that was what she sensed.

It wasn’t as if she had tried to bring the crime to the spotlight, so Shougo’s family register remained as it was. Even if Mio were, god forbid, to die before her time, not a cent of the Shimada family fortune would go to Shougo. And yet, they had accepted each other’s presence, and they had slowly become used to the fact that they were sister and brother. It seemed to Misao that they enjoyed the sibling bond to its full extent.

Something like that couldn’t possibly happen in real life; Shougo and Mio must just be taking their strange way in which they reunited in an amusing manner. If they found out that she was worried about things like that, they would probably exchange glances and burst out in laughter.

Lately, she had been receiving frequent calls from him. There were times she seriously pondered what kind of position this man named Kusuda should be placed in her life. Was he a lover? A friend with whom she had sexual relations? Or was it neither of those and he just happened to be a man who was no more than someone she met by chance in the last half of her life who she had sex with?

Misao held her cell phone with her right hand, and as she bundled the thick stack of documents into a binder with her left hand, she let out a chuckle. “I was just about to leave to head to a prison facility, and you’re talking about something like that?”

“It’s a woman who hit her husband with a golf club in retaliation for the abuse she had been suffering at his hands; the husband was seriously injured by it. It was a while back, but it was treated like some joke on TV gossip shows; have you heard of it?”

“Well, I didn’t say that… if it’s dinner, I can go.”

“What’s gotten into you?” She laughed. “You’re acting like a dog in heat.”

There was a knock on the door, and her secretary peered into the room. Misao hastily switched to a polite manner of speech and said, “Then I will contact you in the coming days regarding that matter.” before ending the call.

It was strange. Every time she would think back to Keiichi, she felt thankful of Kusuda’s presence in her life. Even though, when it came right to it, he wasn’t able to completely fill the hole that Keiichi’s death had left in her heart, he was able to at least add a dash of color to the empty cave in which cold wind would pass through; she was grateful for this. There was nothing more she could hope for.

To introduce him to someone like Shougo with whom she had formed a bond that couldn’t be broken, had in and of itself certain implications. By doing so, it also meant confirming the decision in her heart to continue her relationship with Kusuda for some time yet.

Misao ended up choosing a laid-back Italian restaurant in Ginza.

As luck would have it, it was raining that night, and the temperature was unusually cold for that time of year. Mio arrived shortly after Misao. She was wearing a short winter sheepskin coat and she was sniffling.

“I guess you could say that. I’ve been having a bit of a fever since yesterday.”

“Don’t mind me; I’m fine. And besides, it’s been a while since you’ve gone about making a dinner reservation for us. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Kusuda-san too, so I was looking forward to this.”

Mio took out a cigarette and lit it; she appeared impatient as she kept glancing at the entrance.

“Yeah. I’ve been smoking less than usual, so I should be okay. Kusuda-san hasn’t arrived yet?”

“Let’s wait until Shougo-kun gets here.”

“Since this isn’t something we can talk about once Kusuda-san is here, I guess I’ll just tell you now. I’ve already told Shougo-kun this, but with Kanaya-san’s passing, there’s now no one else other than us who knows the truth of Shougo-kun’s past… that’s what this means. When you think about it that way, it all feels a bit surreal, doesn’t it?”

“I went to see Kanaya-san last summer. It’s only been a little over half a year since then. If I’d waited another six months to see him, it would mean that the only person who could confirm that he’s your brother would have already departed from this world.”

It was a half-hearted response. She had an expression on her face as if she was being made to listen to an everyday incident of an acquaintance of hers. She tapped the ash from her cigarette onto a tray, and let out a small sigh.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you saying he doesn’t feel like a brother to you?”

Mio had thrown such a direct statement her way that Misao was at a loss of how to answer; she was dismayed. “Well that’s a problem,” she managed to force a smile on her face. “I can’t say it’s very healthy to turn your own brother into a lover.”

She had to say something… she had to ask something. It was when Misao leaned into the table towards Mio that she caught sight of Shougo. He was wearing a light khaki jacket. He was smiling as he approached their table, and took a seat next to Mio.

She wasn’t sure if he already knew of this, but Shougo turned to Mio and asked, “Do you have a fever?”

As Misao watched, Mio turned her cheek in his direction. Mio’s eyes were closed, and her expression was as if she were waiting for a kiss from him. Her long black eyelashes created beautiful faint shadows on her cheek.

His hand which was resting on Mio’s cheek then moved to touch his own face. Then once again, he reached out to touch Mio’s cheek and commented, “I’m guessing it’s around 37.5 degrees.”

It was a brief exchange. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for a younger brother to touch his older sister’s cheek to check if she had a fever. To be disturbed by a relationship that would cause a sister to turn her cheek to her brother’s way so he could take her temperature… the person who had such thoughts could be said to be the impure one. If the siblings were close, it might just be a common action that melted into the fabric of daily life.

“Once we’re finished dinner, you’re free to head on home,” Misao said. “Why don’t you get Shougo-kun to see you home?”

It took every fibre of her being to pretend that she hadn’t noticed the scene she had just witnessed. She reached into her bag and took out a carton of cigarettes and lit one. She realized she was restlessly smoking her cigarette, but there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Misao played it safe in the way she introduced Shougo to Kusuda: “This is Iwasaki Shougo, Mio’s brother. It may seem a little strange that they have different last names, but since you already know the circumstances of that, I won’t go into details here.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Shougo said as he returned the greeting and bowed.

Shougo was aware of Misao’s relationship with Kusuda. It must be that Mio must have told him about this, so even if she didn’t say in a clear cut manner her relationship with him, he would probably be able to deduce the nature of the relationship.

It was so that at times, she almost forgot that Kusuda and her were, in the end, nothing more than strangers. Despite this atmosphere, she continued to keep a close eye on Mio and Shougo.

Mio was more of the silent-type, whereas Shougo was more socially inclined. But between those two, was a ripple in the water that couldn’t be seen with the naked eye and it appeared, from time to time, as if they were both straining to hear the sound of the waves.

…that the two had fallen in love.

The moment the main meal had ended and the espresso and sorbet for dessert had been served, Mio suddenly leaned into the table and held her cheeks with both hands.

“You’re not feeling well? Are you okay?”

“I’ll see you home,” Shougo said as he peered into her face with a concerned expression. “Can you get on the taxi right away? Or would you feel better if you walked outside a bit first?”

“It’s all right, Kusuda-san. If it’s at this time of day, we should be able to catch one without having to wait.” Mio smiled, and reached out for her bag and stood up. “I’m sorry to interrupt what was such a lovely dinner.”

“No, that’s all right; you don’t have to do that. You should just enjoy your date with Kusuda-san, Misao-chan.”

It didn’t seem to her though that Mio was worried about disrupting Misao and Kusuda’s plans. On the contrary, her words felt as if she was saying to Misao to not disturb her and Shougo’s time together.

She wondered if Kusuda witnessed what had just happened. Had he witnessed Shougo’s passion-tinged gesture… the way he wrapped his arm around Mio, who was feeling weak from the fever, as if he was driven by some deep inner need to protect her?

She replied in a nonchalant manner, and reached for her sorbet.

However, she couldn’t find it in herself to ask. The moment she asked a question of that nature, she had a feeling her doubts would crystallize into shape, and she would become crushed by the weight of it.

“I don’t think I’ll stay the night; I’m worried about Mio.”

“Well, it’s not as if they’re living together, you know.”

She felt his heated gaze on her.

“I don’t want to show you what I look like in the morning; I told you a few times before, didn’t I?”

Misao nodded and smiled and him, “It’s still a no.”

“You’re so silly. What would be the point of seeing it?”

She liked the direct way he said things. It was these moments that made her feel that she wanted to continue to have a connection with him in someway.

“It wouldn’t just be in the morning, but night as well.”

When they left the restaurant, the rain had begun to pour down onto the streets. As Kusuda held an umbrella over her, Misao thought about Mio. She wondered if Mio and Shougo were at Mio’s apartment drinking hot cocoa together right about now?

There was a need for her to put a halt to her imaginations. Misao reeled in her imaginations which were beginning to run wild on her, and she let the warmth of Kusuda’s hand with which he had reached out to grab onto hers as if he couldn’t wait until they got to the hotel seep into her palm.

Chapter end