My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

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We silently looked down at our pockets.

"...Are you alright?"

"No, it's okay, it's okay. I already told her I wouldn't be able to reply to messages for a while."

Let's get back to business.

We walked hand in hand upstairs to my room. Although it was still a mess, with books piled up everywhere and making it difficult to move, the bed was clean, so it should be fine.

I pushed the girl down onto the bed, and she exclaimed happily, "Ah!"

I pressed myself against Yui, who was lying on her back on the bed, and kissed her again. This time, it wasn't the playful kiss from before, but a kiss meant to ignite our passion—

--Shoot.

A message sound effect came from the pocket.

"........."

"........."

We stopped kissing and froze for a moment.

The girl slowly took out her phone from her pocket to check the screen.

"...Who is it?"

"...Asuha-in-class."

She probably only checks system notifications for confirmation, because Jie insisted on looking away from her phone and said:

"My phone...it might be disturbing. Can I put it on the table?"

"……good."

Jie slipped away from under me, took her phone, walked to the desk a little distance from the bed, slid it a few times, and then placed it on the table.

Then the woman returned and said:

"I turned off the notifications."

"learn."

Let's get back to business.

The woman knelt on the bed, slowly placing her hands on my shoulders. This time, she pushed me down. As she pressed her soft body against me, she kissed my lips again.

"Hmm... Phew..."

I put my hand behind the woman's back and secretly slipped my fingers inside her shirt.

Fingertips traced the smooth, delicate skin of her back, slowly lifting the hem of her shirt to locate the bra clasp in the center of her back.

Snapped.

The moment I unhooked the back clasp, a surge of emotion welled up inside me. It's incredible; no matter how many times I repeat it, the feeling of that moment never fades.

-- Ring ring ring ring ring!

The phone rang on the desk.

"........."

"........."

Then let's continue with the correct procedure.

-- Ring ring ring ring ring!

Then let's continue—

-- Ring ring ring ring ring!

Then...

-- Ring ring ring ring ring!

"Hate!"

As Jie Nu pressed her loosened bra against her clothes, she got out of bed, walked quickly over, and picked up her incessantly ringing phone.

Pretending not to hear it would inevitably arouse suspicion... She had no choice but to do this.

"Hello?...Oh, um, it's okay...um...um...huh? Shall we go now?"

Jie Nu held the phone to her ear with one hand and pressed the other hand to her chest, turning to look at me with a troubled expression.

"No, I just have something to take care of right now... --Huh? No, it's not like that...!"

Jie then hurriedly spoke two or three more sentences to the other party before hanging up the phone and letting out a sigh.

"...What did Asukain say?"

I asked hesitantly. There was no need to ask who the other person was anymore.

The woman replied with a look of deep remorse:

"Well... we were originally scheduled to meet with the student council members tomorrow, but she wants to change it to today..."

“…I see.”

"No, but I'll refuse! We already agreed to go tomorrow!"

"It's alright...you go ahead."

I suppressed my feelings and spoke.

"Your relationship with Asuhain is also very important... You'll have plenty of time to spend with me in the future."

Most importantly, I don't want to arouse Asuhain's suspicion... She's already said she'd kill me.

"Huh...but..."

As Jie Nu held her phone to her chest, she spoke with concern.

"It might sound strange coming from me, but... can you...?"

That's impossible.

"It's okay, what do you take me for? I can control this little bit of sexual desire."

"That's good……"

Jie Nu rested her chin on her hand and pondered for a while, then walked to me, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, and knelt on the floor.

"Um!"

Then, as if asking for a hug, it stretched out its arms to me.

Confused, I gave her a hug. Her arms wrapped around my back, tightening the embrace as if she wanted me to remember the feel of her body. Seeing but not being able to touch her, my sense of touch became incredibly sensitive. The softness and elasticity of her breasts, the rise and fall of her ribs, even the rhythm of her breathing, felt like they were branded onto my skin.

After embracing like this for a while, Jienu reluctantly left my arms, gazing at my face.

"Okay, then, you can just wait until tonight...is that alright?"

It was just like a mother nagging a child.

I said with a wry smile:

"Okay."

"Also, I think you should know..."

"I know, don't worry."

Let me explain.

Yui Irito is the type of girl who doesn't like her boyfriend watching porn.

"Then..."

Jie stood up, reaching behind her to fasten the clasp of her bra that she had just unhooked, and walked towards the door of the room.

"I'm going now. I'm so sorry!"

She turned around at the door, clasped her hands together in apology, and then disappeared down the corridor.

"Hey, Asuha-in-san? You just said...—"

The voice speaking into the microphone gradually faded into the distance.

After the sound completely disappeared, I lay back on the bed and sighed deeply towards the ceiling.

This situation will definitely continue to occur in the future.

To be honest, we're always careful not to get caught by Dad or Aunt Yujin, so the addition of Asuhain isn't a big deal.

but……

Just this once... just this once, let me vent my frustrations.

"...This is so hard to endure..."

I will definitely get my revenge.

I made a firm vow in my heart.

Volume 11: You Won't Understand Anyway - Epilogue

It's not something to brag about, but I actually read very few mystery novels.

To be honest, I prefer playing mystery games, and I'm lucky if I read one novel a year. So whenever the girl mentions a book title, I rush to read it and cram in the knowledge to write the plot.

Even someone like me can write suspense novels.

I've recently been planning to use these values ​​to preach to everyone, but let's put that aside for now and first explain why I wanted to write a mystery story about a "stepmother burden".

Going back to the beginning, I had actually considered turning "Stepmother's Burden" into a mystery novel before the book was even published. I abandoned the idea at the time partly because I was afraid I lacked the skills to structure the story, and partly because I felt I shouldn't embellish it haphazardly. But now that there are more than ten episodes, and it's time to start thinking about how to unify the series, I've found that continuing to write it this way will present some difficulties.

Actually, around the fourth episode, I was already struggling with two things. One was, "I don't know how to turn a romantic comedy into a full-length novel." The other was, "I want to write chapters focusing on other characters, but I'm afraid it will reduce the screen time for Mizuto and Yume."

Perhaps I haven't mentioned it much, but in fact, this "Stepmother's Burden" is the first time I've created a pure romantic comedy set in modern times. In the past, I've mostly written stories that focus on battles or mystery, so I've never known how to structure a romantic comedy.

I initially thought I could learn by trying different things as I wrote, but after trying to write the tenth episode, I suddenly realized I still couldn't write it. I could only cobble together the content of one episode in a daze, which made writing very difficult. Compared to suspense works that seem to require careful planning at first glance, writing about "stepmothers and their children" was actually more difficult for me.

Some might think that an author racking their brains means they've put in the effort, which is why they can produce a great work. But even if that were true, it would be meaningless if the benefits of doing so couldn't be expressed in words—especially after experiencing the production process of the animated version, which made me deeply aware of this.

The theme I'm currently pursuing is "reproducibility".

Reproducibility—that is, the ability to repeatedly create the same interesting works. Unless the key is found, one can only cope for a short time and has no future. Without a future, there is no growth, and without growth, there will be boredom.

I believe that "boredom" is the poison that takes the lives of creators in all fields—therefore, I judged that I did not have the talent to make a romantic comedy long film reproducible, so I chose to start from other aspects.

The one selected was a suspenseful mystery.

Why a mystery/suspense story? Only now can I begin to discuss my second concern. Because if we use a mystery/suspense story as the main theme, even if we focus on other characters, we still need someone to play Sherlock Holmes and Watson—in this episode, that means ensuring the screen time for Mizuto and Yume.

In fact, the story of this eleventh volume was originally centered on Asuhain, but there is only one scene narrated from Asuhain's perspective. Suspense and mystery novels are a genre that easily employs this structure.

In episode 10, Mizuto and Yume's relationship had naturally progressed, and I had long wanted Mizuto to use his detective skills. With the right time, place, and people, I decided to give it a try.

It took me a month just to come up with the content, but that also allowed me to relax a bit while creating. Although I switched to voice input to write from this point on, the endless errors in recognizing "Asuhain" almost drove me crazy.

Having gone through the above process, this time I'm presenting you with a suspenseful mystery plot. I believe the reasoning process is fairly solid. If any reader has become interested in my suspenseful mystery works after reading this eleventh volume, please also read the more intricately plotted "Sherlock + Detective Academy" or "Boku ga Otoru Kimi no Mikaiki" (taking this opportunity to promote myself).

The next episode is scheduled to feature Kawanami and Akatsuki. One morning, the two wake up to find themselves sleeping in the same bed! ...I haven't thought of anything else yet; this is just a plan, not a decision.

This concludes the article "My Stepmother's Burden is My Ex-Girlfriend 11 - You Wouldn't Understand Anyway" presented by Kajiki Kyosuke. Perhaps you've already noticed, I really enjoy writing about girls' chatter.

Volume 11 Illustrations - You Won't Understand Anyway

Volume 12, There's Only One Man, Interlude 1

Taiwanese version from Angel Anime Forum

Light Bookshelf × Angel Anime Entry Team

Image source: Hai

Why him of all people?

There were so many guys out there, why him of all? I still don't understand.

Junior high classrooms are filled with all sorts of boys. Takahara, the all-around athlete, is great, and Tsukishima, with his steady personality, is also nice. There are cute younger students in the lower grades, and reliable older students in the upper grades. No, we don't even need to be limited by gender. The track and field club has everyone's idol, Taki-chan, and Midori also idolizes me.

But why Kawanami Kogure?