My former younger sister, Han Seol-ah, looked up at me timidly, her head barely peeking out from her hunched posture.
Her wide, upturned eyes felt overwhelmingly burdensome.
“O-oppa…?”
How was I supposed to answer that?
The answer was obvious.
— Flick!
“…Ouch!”
I flicked Han Seol-ah on the forehead.
It was meant to snap her out of it.
“What do you mean, oppa? Say something that actually makes sense.”
If she was going to call me that, she should at least get the gender right.
Age, gender, weight, appearance, height, even hair color—there was nothing similar between us.
How on earth did she connect the dots in a way that led to calling me oppa?
Thinking lightly of it was my mistake.
[…Uh? Gacchan, your younger sister’s eyes… they look a bit dangerous right now…?]
“…Huh?”
At Jinzuko’s words, I turned my gaze back to my former younger sister, still curled up.
But the atmosphere had completely changed.
“…Ahaha, ahaha…”
A quiet, almost leaky giggle.
Her expression was hidden.
Her hands, pressed against her forehead where I had flicked her, were covering her face.
Slowly, gently.
As if stroking herself, she rubbed the spot.
Maybe she was checking if a bump had formed from the pain…
But her touch didn’t seem like that at all.
— Fidget, fidget.
— Twitch, twitch.
Rather, it looked like she was savoring the pain, reliving the sensation.
As if she were trying to recall the name of a long-forgotten, yet familiar taste.
“This pain… that sound earlier… the tingling sensation… it’s still lingering… The way you flick….”
And before long, she reached a conclusion.
“…This is definitely oppa.”
The frightened, withdrawn younger sister from before was gone.
Han Seol-ah, with her eyes widened in a manic gleam, looked up at me—the middle school girl.
— Rustle, rustle.
She didn’t even attempt to stand up.
Her knees and palms dirtied with dust as she crawled toward me.
Like a creature of chaos, believing itself to be some creeping terror.
And once she had closed the distance enough, kneeling on the ground—
— Swoop.
She suddenly wrapped her arms around my small, middle school girl’s body.
“Oppa… Oppa… It’s you… oppa…”
— Rub, rub.
— Snuggle, snuggle.
If a human could trade minds with a love-starved kitten, it would look exactly like this.
Han Seol-ah rubbed her face against my school uniform as if trying to mark it with her scent.
“Ugh?! W-wait…! I told you, you’ve got the wrong person…! Agh, let go!”
“Hehe… It’s oppa. It’s really oppa… This milky scent… It’s definitely oppa’s…”
…M-milky scent?
Did I ever smell like that in my past life?
Was she mistaking it for the lingering scent of youth?
“No, that’s just the same fabric softener… And we’re from different countries, for god’s sake…!”
“Nooo, it’s you, oppa. You’re right here… oppa… oppa…”
“H-hk…?!”
I let out an involuntary shudder of discomfort.
Han Seol-ah gently traced a finger over my chest.
Sliding down softly,
Then sweeping to the side,
And then, swirling… swirling… swirling…
“Hnnngh, w-wait…! H-heyy?! That was just—!”
Her fingers roamed over my chest, teasing and exploring.
“…Right here.”
— Boop.
She pressed her index finger firmly on a certain spot.
“…?!”
A jolt ran through me, like a mild electric shock, nearly forcing an unintentional sound from my lips.
I barely managed to suppress it.
Anyone else, and maybe I could have let it slip—
But not in front of my former younger sister!
“Hmm? Sniff sniff… The scent of oppa is coming from here… Ahh, I knew it… This smell is definitely—”
“It’s just cigarette smoke, you idiot! And who gave you permission to poke around there?! Get a grip, you crazy girl!!”
— Smack!!
“—Ow?!”
This time, instead of a flick, I went for a full-on knuckle tap straight to her forehead.
That was a close call.
I almost ended up losing my middle schooler lips to my former younger sister…
Even Ayachan hadn’t managed to steal them.
I wasn’t about to give them up so easily.
Especially when I had managed to fend off in my past life, too.
Sure, I had to pay the price of getting my face splattered with a golden liquid identical to her blonde hair, but still…
…Anyway, I won’t give in that easily!
“H-huh? Huh…?”
I watched as focus slowly returned to Han Seol-ah’s eyes.
She was finally coming to her senses.
There really was no better solution than the classic turn it off and back on again approach.
“J-just a little while ago, oppa was right here…”
…Of course, there was no guarantee she’d fully snap back to reality.
“Your oppa isn’t here anymore. You know that. He went to America.”
“W-wait…?! So he just went to America for a bit?!!”
“…No, it’s a metaphor. He’s crossed the rainbow bridge.”
Well, technically, he had crossed a rainbow-colored bridge.
TS counts as a kind of transgender transition, right?
Damn, I’ve become a middle school girl who embodies PC culture just by existing.
“……”
“Judging by how you can glare like that, I’d say you’re finally back to your senses.”
Though she still looked a little unstable.
Well, that’s understandable.
This was my fault.
I had vented my feelings too harshly with my words,
And it must have hit harder than I intended.
To the point where she saw nothing of my past self in Shizuko,
A middle school girl who shared no resemblance with her former brother,
And yet, just from my speech pattern alone, she clung to the illusion.
Ha, seriously…
Han Seol-ah, you’re just like her in this.
But no matter how much she regrets and grieves now,
The only words I can offer as someone who has already crossed that bridge are—
You should’ve appreciated me while I was still here.
“…You got a farewell letter from your oppa, right?”
“Yeah… I got it… I did everything he asked… But how do you know that…?”
“My relationship with my master is deeper than you think. We know almost everything about each other.”
Not a lie.
Because the middle school girl standing in front of you—
Even if not in body, in soul—
Really was the brother you lost.
“…So oppa really did like younger girls, huh.”
“Don’t insult the dead. Now sit down.”
“H-huh…?”
We were at the back garden of an apartment complex.
I casually perched myself on a large rock.
“What are you waiting for? Sit.”
The rock was big, but the side next to me was already full.
The only open spot was…
“…….”
Right behind me.
— Shff.
I felt the warmth of her back pressing against mine.
A familiar, yet unsettling sensation.
Something closer to discomfort than comfort.
A feeling any blood-related sibling would probably understand.
“I heard you passed the first round for KAIST, as a late applicant.”
I was the one to break the silence.
It reminded me of the times when Seol-ah would sulk as a child.
Back then, too, we would sit like this, our backs against each other,
And I would always be the first to speak.
“…….”
“Yeah… because that’s what Oppa told me to do…”
The response finally came, from behind.
“And? Was it doable? Think you can pass the second round? The interview?”
“…Why do you keep talking like my Oppa…?”
I decided to give a reasonable excuse.
“Because I was asked to.”
I mean, isn’t this kind of a cliché?
“Asked…?”
“Yeah.”
I continued.
“You probably had something he asked you to do too, right? It’s the same for me.”
“…I see…”
I heard a rustling sound from behind.
She must have moved her hands.
A quiet gulp followed.
But that breath never came back out.
Instead, all I could hear was the faint trembling of suppressed emotions,
occasional sniffles breaking through.
Apologies.
Gratitude.
All the things left unsaid.
Even though there was no way they’d ever reach him,
Seol-Ah poured them all out, as if she had been holding them in for too long.
Who knows how long we stayed like that?
“…That girl, Iriya. She’s already at the same school, right?”
“Yeah. Same school, same lab.”
“Lab…?”
“Yeah. She was doing independent research as an undergrad, but I heard she finally became a graduate student this year.”
I lightly kicked my feet against the ground, looking up at the tree above.
Spring was already at its end, it seemed—no flowers, just lush green leaves.
Come to think of it, I never got to have a strawberry party this year.
Even though our school’s cherry blossoms always bloomed so beautifully.
“…And you too? Even though you’re still in middle school?”
I chuckled.
“Unfortunately, I’m a later-entry student this time too. I guess that makes us classmates.”
“I see… You too… But aren’t I way older than you?”
“So what? We’re still classmates. Or do you want to start calling me Unni?”
I felt a moment of hesitation from behind me.
“…No, I’ll pass. I might not even pass the second round…”
“You will. No doubt.”
With that, I hopped off the stone I was sitting on, landing lightly on the ground.
As soon as I moved away, Seol-Ah turned towards me, as if she felt the sudden absence.
“At least I’m guaranteed. I already passed the document screening for KPF.”
“…What? KPF…? Document screening? They had something like that?”
“Yeah. It’s a special privilege granted only to super-genius middle school girls like me.”
“…”
Seol-Ah looked both frustrated and anxious at the same time.
“…I see. So you were all… already so close… And I was the only one so far away… Only realizing it now…”
She hasn’t changed at all.
Only her body has grown.
But Seol-Ah…
That’s why—
“It’s fine. You’ll pass too. No doubt about it.”
For this brief moment, let me be the light that guides you.
“Because this is the path you chose—to follow after me.”
Even though you once threw it away.
Only to regret it after losing it.
And now, you’re trying to pick up the burnt ashes and call it yours again.
Just like always.
Like the stubborn little sister you’ve always been, Seol-Ah.
“So don’t worry, Han Seol-Ah. Has listening to Oppa ever led you wrong?”
“…Huh?”
In the end, Oppa is letting you win one more time.
“Uh… uhh…? Ah… That’s… No… Sniff… Uh… Hic…!”
Well, what else could I do?
We’re family.
“What are you doing?”
Blood is thicker than water, after all.
“The Oppa you’ve been wishing for is right here. Got nothing to say?”
Even though my nationality, gender, appearance, and height had completely changed into that of a middle school girl—
“Ah… Ahhh…! Hic…! Uu…! Haaah… Sniff…! Uwaaa…!”
Just like you realized it.
“Oh, right. Did you actually read through ‘How to Become the Queen Bee of KAIST.txt’ properly?”
Some things can’t just be discarded.
“…Oppaaaaa!!!“
Because that’s what it means to be family.
“Hah, I doubt it. With that half-assed attitude of yours, I bet you read a little, then tossed—mmph?!!”
And just like that, my first kiss was stolen.
“Puhaaa…!“
“Oppaaaaaa…!! Oppaaaaa!!“
By my younger sister.
“Oppa! Oppaaaaa!! Oppa, Oppa, Oppaaaaa!!“
“What the—?! Mmmph?! Hup, mmph… Puha…!”
“Oppa, Oppaaaa!! Oppaaaaa!! Oppaaaaaa…!!!“
“Hey, have you lost your—?! Mmph?! Ah, mmph…?! W-wait…!”
“Oppaaaaaaaaaa!!!“
“…Mmph?! Ahp… Uhh… Mmph… Heeehh….”
About a hundred times.
Across all my past lives, my TS life, and my future life.
A record that had never been broken before—until now.
If You Notice any translation issues or inconsistency in names, genders, or POV etc? Let us know here in the comments or on our Discord server, and we’ll fix it in current and future chapters. Thanks for helping us to improve! 🙂