That night, Ciel came to visit me in the guest room where I was staying. When I told her that I would be going to Cire’s house the next day, she shrugged her shoulders with a disappointed little frown.

  “Ah…I was hoping we’d have more time to talk,” she said.

  “Me too. We’ll meet again,” I replied.

  After exchanging contact information, we passed the time talking about trivial things—our schools, our families, and other everyday matters. Somewhere in the flow of conversation, I mentioned that I had a stepsister, and somehow that led to me confessing the special feelings I had always held for Roman, as well as the bitter experiences I had endured in the past.

  Ciel listened quietly, nodding occasionally. When I finished, she commented in a way that made it sound like it wasn’t such a grave problem.

  “Why not like your sister? She’s not even reted by blood, right?”

  “But she doesn’t love me,” I said.

  “You don’t fall in love to make someone love you back, do you? It’s… unavoidable, in a sense. I’ve never been in love myself, so I wouldn’t know, but in movies, the heroine often falls for someone completely unexpected, someone they meet by chance on a remote isnd, and they fall in love instantly.”

  “True. Even Heathcliff and Catherine… they were almost like siblings, yet they were irresistibly drawn to each other. In the end, though, they never found happiness…”

  “At least while they were alive,” Ciel added.

  “Yes. But being rewarded after death—that’s not enough for me. If possible, I want to be happy with the one I love while I’m still alive.”

  “In that case, why don’t you just tell your sister how you feel? You’ve never really said it outright, have you?”

  “That’s true… When I was a child, I used to. But as I grew older, I just assumed she understood.”

  “When someone is close, it’s easy to take that for granted. But sometimes, you only really understand how the other person feels when you put your own feelings out there. Like in romance manga or movies—you csh, you argue, and only then do you really know each other’s hearts.”

  I felt a quiet agreement with her words. What had troubled me the most was not knowing Roman’s feelings. I had been scared of leaving it unknown, afraid of being faced with the cruel truth—that to her, I might just be a little sister.

  “I’m scared of finding out that I mean nothing to her,” I admitted.

  “You can’t mean nothing. You’ve lived together as sisters all this time. Being honest about your feelings might finally give you some crity,” Ciel said.

  Her words fell into my chest with an almost uncanny ease. Maybe, if I expressed the feelings I had kept hidden, I could finally put my mind at rest. Even if she rejected me, it would still be better than lingering in uncertainty.

  Finally, Ciel smiled softly. “Whether you tell her or not… that’s up to you,” she said.