The One Chosen as the Oni’s Bride Was My Little Sister - Chapter 1

I dreamed of my childhood.

I remember that day was one when, unusually, it was just my mother and me. Even though on holidays my father, mother, and little sister always went out together, that day, only my father and my little sister Karen had gone out alone and my mother and I had stayed home.

I had been happy just to be alone with my mother. Even if she looked at me with contempt or hit me to vent her anger, the foolish little me believed stupidly that one day my mother would love me, and so I adored her.

My mother in my dream beckoned me. Innocently, but with a little caution so that if she did hit me she wouldn’t hit anywhere truly damaging, I ran toward her.

“Mother, what is it?”

To my surprise my mother smiled and cupped my cheek with both hands. She peered at my face as if checking something.

“Did I do something wrong?” I had always been afraid of making my mother angry. She would become unhappy for no reason and take away my meals from me.

With gentle hands she stroked my head and shook her head.

“Why does mother always hit only me? Is it because I’m a bad child?”

Her atmosphere was different than usual, and I found myself asking a question I never normally dared to ask. It had been on my mind for such a long time that I could not bring myself to ask.

My mother narrowed her eyes, leaned close to my ear, and breathed words into it.

“Miharu, you must become ○○○. Understand?”

What had my mother said then? It felt important, so important, but I couldn’t quite remember. I was on the brink of recalling something, and yet—

When I reached my hand out in the dream, I felt a shock to my body and I woke up.

◆◆◆

“Miharu. Wake up quickly and make breakfast.”

My mother was looking down at me. Her face was backlit so I couldn’t make it out clearly, but it certainly wasn’t a smile. In the seventeen years since I was born, my mother had never smiled at me.

Apparently I had been kicked. Holding my aching stomach, I staggered to my feet.

“…Yes. I understand.”

I answered and headed to the kitchen. My bed was a futon laid out in the hallway near the kitchen, and all of my belongings were stored in the storage room under the stairs.

Mornings were a battlefield.

I shoved bread into the toaster and, while it heated, fried bacon and eggs together. When the water boiled I made coffee for my father, tea for my mother, and cocoa for my sister. By the time my sister leisurely woke up, finished getting ready, and sat at the table, everything had to be perfectly arranged. If it wasn’t, she would be in a bad mood and my parents would scold me.

That is because—

—my sister, Ozenji Karen, was the hope of our household, our beloved child, our pride and joy, and above all—she was an oni's bride.

Oni.

In modern society, they have become a known supernatural presence. They live far longer than humans, possess superior physical abilities, and use uncanny, almost magical powers and deep wisdom to dominate human society.

Such beings existed in this world.

Onis were few in number, and oni-to-oni mating did not produce offspring. Only human women could bear onis, and to give birth to a powerful oni, the woman had to be a bride chosen by the oni himself.

How onis selected brides had never been revealed. It seemed even the onis did not truly understand it. They simply followed instinct to find a bride, and once they had secured one, they never let go.

Those rumors circulated plausibly, and some romantically inclined humans had exalted it as fate.

And astonishingly, my little sister had been chosen for something so grand.

Not just any oni—she had been chosen as the bride of the Domeki family’s head, Domeki Loki, a powerful oni from a family renowned throughout society.

She had been chosen three years ago, when Karen was only thirteen and I was fourteen. The way our parents celebrated was almost ridiculous.

My mother went into a frenzy of delight, cradling Karen and beaming proudly at her beautiful profile, sobbing nonsense through her tears. My father checked the bankbook and danced, saying, “The betrothal money from the Domeki family has been transferred! Now we can pay off the mortgage!”

That day was my birthday, but of course there was no birthday celebration for me; instead a sudden party to glorify Karen was held.

Like everyone else, no one knew why Karen had been chosen.

On her way to school, Loki had supposedly happened upon her, and that very day he had stormed our house insisting he wanted to make her his bride. I had only watched from the storage closet where my mother had shoved me, but it had been quite a sight.

A black-lacquered limousine had pulled up in front of the house, and out stepped a tall, handsome man with glossy black hair tied back. He knelt before the bewildered, summoned Karen, took her hand, kissed the back of it, and breathlessly proposed, “I would very much like you to become my bride. I love you.”

I stood dumbfounded at the scene, but a girl chosen to be a bride was on another level entirely. She blinked her wide, double-lidded eyes, and the next moment she smiled sweetly and returned his handhold. “Yes. I would be delighted to accept.” And just like that, she became the oni’s bride.

The speed of it was maddening to watch, but it seemed ordinary for an oni. The moment the proposal succeeded, attendants appeared from nowhere, shouting things like “Congratulations, lord!” and “Blessings upon the beautiful bride!”

Perhaps swept up in that celebratory atmosphere—or enticed by the honor and benefits of being an oni's bride—my parents, who had been stunned into silence by the sudden proposal, joined in and cried out, “Congratulations!” It was a chaotic scene where I felt certain I was the only sane person left; yet all evidence suggested otherwise.

Still, looking at my sister, I could roughly understand why she had been chosen.

She was a beautiful girl who bore no resemblance to me. She had a great figure, always clever and resourceful. Her personality was bright and honest, and she was used to being loved. She was never without a boyfriend as there was always someone around her. That was the kind of girl she was.

The toaster made a light 'ding' sound. I snapped out of my reverie and focused on making breakfast. Karen would show up in the living room any moment. I picked up a mug, thinking I should set out the cocoa, when the living-room door opened.

“Good morning, Mom, Dad.”

It was Karen.

She was already dressed in her uniform and completely ready.

Her long hair, loosely waved, flowed down her back, and she wore a headband with a cute floral motif. Her large eyes shone in the morning light, and her porcelain cheeks were faintly flushed. Her glossy lips, like cherries, curved into an arc that made her all the more attractive. Her slim limbs were long and graceful, her chest comparatively full, and the sailor uniform’s ribbon swayed with it.

“Good morning, Karen.”

My parents who had sat down at the table without even greeting me while I prepared the meal greeted her.

I debated whether to speak, but no one looked my way, so I quietly set the cocoa on the dining table. As if it were natural, Karen sat and sipped the cocoa. Then she scowled and squealed in a high voice, “Eww, so bitter!”

"Seriously! There's not nearly enough sugar! You know I like it much sweeter, right?"

It was true that today's cocoa was less sweet. But that was because...

"Karen, yesterday you said you were going on a diet, so I didn’t put on much sugar..."

"What's that supposed to mean, that it's my fault? Mom, Dad, did you hear that? Even though it was onee-chan's mistake, she's saying it's my fault!"

She turned her lovely face to our parents. Mother sighed.

“Sigh, this girl is such a good-for-nothing who can't even do anything right,” she said.

Father wore a stern expression and instructed me, “Miharu, apologize to Karen.”

It was unreasonable, but I had no choice. No allies stood with me; it was easier to offer a perfunctory apology and be done with it.

I took on a meek expression and bowed my head toward Karen.

“I’m sorry.”

“That does not sound sincere. You’re always like that, you don’t really think you’ve done anything wrong, do you, onee-chan? Well, since I’m nice, I’ll forgive you. Now, hurry and make me another one!”

She flung the mug at me. Scalded by the hot cocoa, I shielded my face with my arm and felt the sting of a burn, but nobody cared. Wiping the spilled cocoa from the floor and washing the drink-stained clothes would all be my job, but for them, such trivial matters are not worth bothering with.

While stirring an absurd amount of sugar into the cocoa until it looked like it could make someone’s teeth ache, I muttered to myself.

—Someday, I would definitely kill her.