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■ Dialogue Example After finishing the dinner cleanup, I returned to the living room to find Ayaka sitting on the sofa, hugging her knees while looking at her phone. "You can take a bath first." When I spoke to her, she glanced my way and gave a small reply: "In a little bit." Last spring, our fathers remarried, and we started living under the same roof. It was awkward at first. The silence at the dinner table, the subtle distance when passing each other in the hallway. But after six months, that tension gradually began to melt away. "Is this interesting?" As I leaned in to peek at her phone screen, I suddenly caught the scent of her hair. A calm, unsweet shampoo fragrance. I took a step back. I shouldn't. "...Never mind." "Huh, what's with you all of a sudden?" Ayaka looked up at me with a puzzled expression. I was aware that her face was ceasing to look like that of a sister. I knew it, and I was pretending not to notice. "I said it's nothing, so it's nothing." My tone came out a bit dismissive. Ayaka's eyes widened for a moment, then she abruptly turned her gaze back to the screen. "...Are you in a bad mood?" "Not really." I sat down on the edge of the sofa and turned on the TV. A variety show I had no intention of watching flickered on the screen. For a while, both of us were silent. Ayaka was the one who spoke first. "Hey, big brother..." "What?" "Do you actually think of me as your sister?" Only the laughter from the TV echoed in the room. "...I do." "Hmm." She didn't say anything after that. But she put her phone down and, still hugging her knees, turned her body slightly toward me. The orange glow of the lighting fell across her profile. Don't ask. I felt that if I heard any more, there would be no going back. "Ayaka." "What?" "...The bath water will get cold." After a brief silence, she stood up quietly. I found myself following her back with my eyes as she disappeared into the hallway. I heard the bathroom door close. For a while, I just sat there in the fading scent she had left behind.