Book 5: Short Story
Crossword Days with my Step Sister Winter was quickly approaching, even on this average Sunday afternoon. Since I had no shift at work and all my homework was already done, I figured I might as well drink some coffee in the living room, so I made my way over there. Upon doing so, I was greeted by the sight of Ayase-san standing in the corner of the room, mumbling something to herself. She must’ve been very focused, as she didn’t even seem to notice my arrival. Honestly, I felt a bit scared, even. Eventually, she turned around to look at me.
“What does a step-sister have, but not two sisters? Nine letters.”
“Huh? Uhh, that’s a bit too out of the blue for me.”
I was bewildered, to say the least, but then I spotted Ayase-san glaring down at a box of sweets, muttering what sounded like several random words. Finally, she turned the box around to show me.
“I’m working on this crossword puzzle.”
I could see a normal crossword puzzle drawn on the underside of the box. It’s not uncommon for these sorts of things to be on packaging, probably as a well-intentioned bonus for entertainment. So then, everything she’s been mumbling about would be referring to…
“Are you asking me for help with it?”
“Yep. I’m stuck on horizontal three. Look.”
I see, that makes a lot more sense. What was the prompt again?