Title: Days with My Stepsister Vol. 4
Author: Ghost Mikawa (Original Story), Yumika Kanada (Story), Hiten (Characters)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 178
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Drama
Publication Date: September 23, 2025
The Story
We open up this volume with a bit of a dilemma. Saki and Yuta have Parent-Teacher Conferences coming up, and they are afraid that if theirs gets scheduled on the same day, then it would let the cat out of the bag and everyone will know that they are brother and sister. When they realize that scheduling them on different days would greatly affect Saki’s mother’s work schedule, they cave and decide to tell everyone about their little secret. Much to their surprise, it wasn’t as big a deal as they had made it out to be.
Meanwhile, both Yuta and Saki are facing another issue… their growing feelings for one another. The advice they both received was the same… that they should go out, meet new people, and try new things to try and take their minds off of their feelings, hoping that it would make them realize if their feelings for one another were real or not. For Yuta, he ends up going to a study hall with Kaho Fujinami and later on a late-night walk around Shibuya. For Saki, she ends up going to an open campus at Yomiuri’s college in addition to a study session where Keisuke Shinjou will be attending.
During these outings, they each have several key things happen to them that make them come to grips with reality. After their individual journeys come to an end, they share a meal together at the dinner table, where Yuta has something to say to Saki, but what will be her response?
Characters
There was a lot of development here with Yuta and Saki, so let’s dive into that first.
As mentioned above, they both shared the same journey… trying to figure out whether or not their feelings for one another are romantic, or some by-product of familial love. In Yuta’s case, he had a talk with Yomiuri about meeting new people; however, he didn’t exactly go out of his way to do that. When Yomiuri took him to a golfing range, he ran into Kaho, and the two of them just talked casually. She mentioned a study hall, so he went to check it out. One thing led to another and, soon, they found themselves having lunch together often, but nothing was truly blossoming between them romantically. Instead, we learned a bit about Kaho’s backstory and why she recognized a lot of the same things in Yuta that she saw in herself when she was younger, so it was like she understood what he was going through.
In Saki’s case, everything started with Yomiuri invited her to the open campus at her college. There, she meets a rather eccentric professor who specializes in studying relationships, and as luck would have it, she conveniently is in the middle of studying the taboo of sibling love. One discussion later, and Saki is given a lot of things to think about, including going out and meeting new people, which is why she decided to take Maaya’s offer to go to a study session. There, she’s asked to go shopping with Keisuke; however, it’s pretty obvious that he has feelings for Saki. When she turns down his confession, it was as if the lightbulb went on over her head.
It’s two similar paths with different scenarios, each one offering the advice that they needed to hear in order to come to the answer that they have been searching for. Whether that answer is actual romance, or just an attachment because neither one thought about romance before, so close encounters with the opposite sex was confusing them, has yet to be ironed out completely, but it seems as if these journeys have made them realize what it truly is between them.
As for Kaho, we learned about how her family kind of shunned her after her parents had died. She felt that floating through life with nothing else mattering in the world was the best path forward, all while trying to remain neutral. That’s exactly how Yuta had been this entire time. Even when Saki moved in, he felt like it wasn’t a big deal, and that he would just continue to float by while remaining neutral. This is why Kaho understood Yuta perfectly and was able to give him the advice that he needed. She also made it perfectly clear that if Yuta was only hanging around her because he thought she was easy, she would reject him immediately. At least she knows how to firmly draw the line in the sand!
Yomiuri continues to act like the big sister for Yuta. She knew that he needed to get out and do other things, so offering up her time to help with that made a world of difference for him and got the ball rolling on figuring out the true meaning of his feelings. Still, it was a bit odd to go to a golfing simulator, but hey… Japan has some pretty unconventional things that kids would be interested in… maybe we shouldn’t be conditioned to view golf as just an old person’s recreational activity to pass the time by during retirement? That wasn’t profiling, was it? Regardless… it was unconventional, so it fit Yomiuri’s character perfectly. Only she would suggest something like that.
Final Thoughts
Yuta and Saki continue to naturally progress, and it’s refreshing to see a romance story like this just coast along and let things happen. Nothing feels forced, there are no contrived situations, and it’s all very realistic. That has always been this series’ strongest suit, and this volume continues that perfectly. When someone is wrestling with their feelings, it’s only natural to try and sort them out first before working up the courage to confess (well, sometimes… there are exceptions in this day and age that make me question if some people even understand what love truly is). Here, you have that, but at the same time, you still have that aspect of trying to be a family. It’s not just whether or not Saki and Yuta like each other; it’s also about whether or not they can accept each other’s parents as their own.
That plays a bigger role than you would think because if they do feel that they are truly each other’s parents and not just strangers that got remarried, what if they do truly love one another? What would it do to their marriage, to their newly-formed family? What about the taboos that come with it? There is a lot to process and sort out, other than just “Do I love my step-sister/step-brother?” Going through those emotions, those feelings, those thoughts, and the consequences of it all in a thoughtful and meaningful way is the epitome of what this series is about. I know I’ve been a broken record when reviewing this series, but I can’t stop singing its praises because it’s pulled off so well, and so realistically, without pulling you truly into reality… if that makes sense.
In any event, we get a bit of a non-cliffhanger cliffhanger to wrap this volume up. Next time around, we’re going to see whether or not they truly figured things out!
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