Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093076684326416/episodes/16818093076690750773
After buying all the seasonings at the supermarket, Takeru nervously brings Takatsuki up to his house.
“…E-excuse me.”
Takatsuki also seemed a little nervous, and her voice sounded more hoarse than usual.
After Takatsuki takes off her shoes and goes to the front door, Takeru tries to help arrange her shoes out of habit, but notices that they are already neatly arranged, with the toes facing out.
Yes, she is not Akari. Takatsuki is a natural at lining up shoes.
Takeru smiled to himself and saw Takatsuki looking at him with a tight expression on her face.
“W-what are you planning to do with my shoes with a grin on your face…? What kind of hobbies do you have with shoes…?”
“N-no, no, no ! This is a habit I have for so long….!”?
“For long !? You’ve had this particular hobby since you were little !?”
“It’s not like that ! I have a friend who doesn’t put their shoes together, so I always put them together.”
This is probably a bad start. It’s too uncomfortable to see things like this from the front door.
Takatsuki looked a little suspicious, but I managed to convince her and led her into the living room.
“I’m home.”
As I entered the living room while saying that, Mayu replied, [Hey]
Mayu sat down on a chair at the living room table and ate a cup of vanilla ice cream in a sloppy manner, giving us a lazy glance.
She stopped moving as she scooped a spoonful of vanilla ice cream into her wide-open mouth.
“Sorry to interrupt.”
She must have been surprised when she saw Takatsuki following behind Takeru. Mayu’s eyes and mouth were wide open and she stood still as if time had stopped.
Takatsuki approaches her and introduces herself.
“Nice to meet you, Takeru kun’s sister…right? My name is Takatsuki Chisato, Takeru kun’s junior.”
Takeru is inwardly surprised that Takatsuki calls him by name for the first time and that she can use honorifics, but he introduces Mayu on her behalf because she does not move an inch.
“The one with the big mouth and stupid face is my sister Mayu. …She’s really not moving. Hey, Mayu?”
Takeru waved his hand in front of Mayu’s eyes and shook her shoulders, but she didn’t respond at all.
After a while, she dropped her spoon on the table and then yelled out.
“Onii chan went cheating because he had a fight with Akari chan—-! !”
Takeru dropped a chop on Mayu’s forehead.
Oh shit, I hadn’t explained to Mayu what had happened with Akari.
“What, you were dumped by Akari, Onii chan, don’t sulk !”
After explaining all this, Mayu laughed pleasantly as she slapped Takeru on the back.
Takeru responded with a frown of pain on his face.
“I haven’t been dumped, I haven’t even confessed.”
“You’ve been dumped. Akari chan got a boyfriend.”
“Uh……”
The following words pierced Takeru’s heart. Even though she is my little sister, she is merciless. Well, maybe it’s because she’s my younger sister.
Mayu laughed for a moment, then looked a little far away and opened her mouth to whisper. [But I see, then I guess Akari chan won’t come anymore…I miss her already.]
She must have been like an older sister to Mayu, as she had been playing with her ever since she was little. I’m sure that parting with Akari will be painful for Mayu as well.
“It can’t be helped. You know it won’t last forever, right? Even Mayu will have to leave someday when she gets married.”
“….I definitely thought that you guys……no, it’s nothing. You’re right…”
Mayu looked at Takeru’s face and seemed to stop saying something.
Takeru pretended not to notice and stood up.
“I’ll be cooking then, Takatsuki san, please relax.”
“Yes, I’ll read a book or something…”
Takatsuki took out a book from her bag, Mayu stood up and took Takatsuki’s hand.
“Takatsuki san ! Takatsuki san, do you play games or something !?”
“Eh? By games, do you mean video games? I’ve never played much…” “
“Then this way ! Please come this way ! Let’s play together !”
“Eh…but…”
Takatsuki gives Mayu a troubled smile as she tugs on her arm, and looks at Takeru as if asking for help.
Takeru smiles back at her.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to keep Mayu company. I think she’ll be satisfied after a few times together.”
“Wha…! !”
Takatsuki was dragged away by Mayu and taken to Mayu’s room.
An hour later, Takeru, who had finished cooking ginger-set meals with several different flavors, was about to knock on Mayu’s door when he heard a voice from inside.
“Hey, one more time ! That wasn’t fair ! I’m just finally learning the moves !”
“Hehe, Chisato chan, you’re not ready for this yet ! I’ll take it as many times as you want !”
It seems that she and my younger sister have gotten to know each other quite well. My younger sister is already calling Takatsuki san [Chisato chan] even though I myself is still only calling her by her last name.
When Takeru knocked and opened the door, Takatsuki looked surprised.
“Oh my, you’re very fast. Is it possible to make it in just a few minutes?”
“No, I made several different flavors, so it’s been about an hour already, you know?”
“Eh !? That long !?”
Takatsuki looked at her watch and was surprised.
It seems that she was having so much fun that she forgot about the passage of time.
“Chisato chan seems to have a good memory, so you’ll soon improve. Well, I don’t think you’ll be able to surpass me.”
“Gah…you cocky little thing…! !”
Takatsuki was frustrated at Mayu’s cheap provocation.
Then, she looked back and forth between the game controller and Takeru, and after grunting as if she was conflicted about something, she reluctantly let go of the controller and stood up.
At the end, when I saw her thinking about whether to challenge Mayu one more time, it seems that Takatsuki san is quite competitive.
After finishing a round of several kinds of ginger-set meals, Takatsuki crossed her arms and made a difficult face.
“Hmmm, I still can’t pinpoint any of them…”
Takeru’s shoulders slumped at Takatsuki’s words.
I thought maybe some kind of spice had been added, so I tried cumin, herbs, rosemary, and other scents that would go well with a ginger-set meal, but all of them seemed to have been removed.
“When I ate it, it felt very similar to today’s bento. It had a nostalgic taste that reminded me of Grandmother.”
Mayu’s senses seem to be similar to Takeru’s, and she looks at him longingly.
Later, while he was experimenting with the remaining ginger, putting more black pepper and nutmeg on it, he heard the sound of the door to the house being opened.
Takeru hurriedly checked his watch and found that the time was already around seven o’clock. It seemed that his father, Koichi, had returned home.
Koichi entered the living room and widened his eyes when he saw Takatsuki.
“I’m home…wait, are you a visitor?”
Takatsuki stood up and bowed neatly. The way she bowed was different from the way she bowed to Mayu, as if she was addressing an adult.
“I’m sorry to have disturbed you. My name is Takatsuki, Takeru kun’s junior.”
Koichi straightened his back and bowed respectfully. Give a salute.
“I’m Shiota Koichi, Takeru’s father ! I’m forty-four years old and an office worker at an IT company !”
“No, why are you nervous, Dad? She didn’t ask you how old you are or what kind of work you do.”
“Ah, I see. I was greeted politely. Hahahaha !”
Koichi laughs loudly to cover up Mayu’s intrusion, takes off his jacket, and heads for the bathroom.
Takeru holds Koichi back.
“Ah, sorry, I haven’t prepared dinner or the bath yet.”
He was so engrossed in the food tasting that he had forgotten all about it.
Koichi says, [Oh? Really?] He waved his hand.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’ll take a bath. Takeru, you take care of dinner. I’m sure your friends are going to eat too, right?”
“Ah, no, I’m afraid I’m going home now….”
“Ah, really? I guess the people at home have already prepared it?”
“That’s not what I mean…”
“Then, go ahead and eat. After all, Takeru’s meals are prepared by professional set menus. It’s much better than the bentos you can buy around here.”
Koichi somehow speaks of it as if it were his own thing and he is good at it.
Takatsuki looked at Takeru with a troubled face, as if asking for his judgment.
“Yeah, you should eat. Actually, I was shopping for Takatsuki san’s dinner today just in case.”
When Takeru said that, Takatsuki looked timid and said, [Then…I’ll take your word for it…] and slowly nodded.
“Okay !”
Takeru was in the kitchen, and he was fired up with guts by himself.
Since Takatsuki was going to eat too, he was more enthusiastic about cooking than usual.
Just as he lays out the ingredients from the refrigerator on his desk, his phone rings.
A look at the notification screen shows that the message seems to be from Akari.
I checked the content and saw that she had sent a stamp with a rabbit that seemed to be glancing at me from the wall.
Takeru was so relieved to hear from her for the first time in two weeks that he was surprised even by himself.
As he was thinking about what to say back, Mayu peeked out from the living room.
“Onii chan, I’m hungry ! Chisato chan’s stomach is growling even though she was eating a ginger meal just now.”
“Hey…! !”
Takatsuki’s irritated voice could be heard from behind Mayu, who was laughing nervously.
“Ah, now that I think about it, I heard it once before, but it sounded just like thunder.”
Takeru’s comment made Koichi and Mayu laugh out loud, and Takatsuki, her face bright red, came out of the back of Mayu’s head.
“Hey, you ! Don’t say anything weird !”
“Ahaha, I was just kidding.”
Takeru put off replying to Akari and started cooking dinner.
“Shiota kun’s house is very lively.”
After finishing dinner and going home, Takatsuki remembered this and said it with a chuckle.
“Ah….sorry ! My father and sister, they were so noisy…”
Takatsuki must have been feeling a bit shrugged off as Mayu and Koichi bombarded her with questions.
Takatsuki, however, slowly shook her head at Takeru’s words.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I think they’re a very warm…wonderful family.”
“Eh? I don’t think so…? We’re poor and have many inconveniences though…”
The Shiota family is struggling to make ends meet on the living expenses their father has been given each month. Even Takeru cooks to save money. Takatsuki’s family probably eats much more expensive food and has a better life than the Shiota family.
Takatsuki laughs to herself.
“No matter how much money you have,……there are some things you don’t have because you have money. Only those things are the things that I…..want the most.”
“I see…..”
Takeru is not quite sure.
If you have money, you can buy all kinds of cooking utensils and any kind of high-quality ingredients, and you won’t have to put up with Mayu, who is drooling after seeing an ad for a new game.
What is it that money can’t buy…?
As Takeru was pondering this, Takatsuki stopped dead in her tracks.
“I mean, why are you being so formal with me? You’re my senior, aren’t you?”
That’s right, if you ask me. Takeru also stopped and thought for a moment about the cause before answering.
“Eh, I feel like…you’re biologically superior to me……?”
He exaggerated a little, but he meant what he said. She was smart, rich, and felt that the world she lived in was different from the one he lived in as a commoner.
Takatsuki gushed at Takeru’s way of talking.
“Fufufu, what’s that? We’re the same human being, so there is no biological superiority or inferiority.”
She smiled with a rounded smile on her doll-like face, and her smile was incredibly cute.
Takatsuki, unaware of Takeru’s admiration, laughs for a moment and then smiles at Takeru.
“You can call me Chisato, too. I’ll call you by your name too. Takeru san, is that okay?”
Takeru felt his face heat up when she suddenly called him by his name, so he turned his head away so that his agitation would not be obvious.
“You don’t need [san]. Takatsu…Chisato…san, it feels weird.”
“Okay, Takeru. By the way, I don’t need [san] either.”
“Chi…Chisa……sorry, I can’t do that.”
It wasn’t a big deal, but I couldn’t call her that.
After dropping Takatsuki off at her apartment, Takeru heads home.
As I had imagined, the apartment Chisato san lived in was a tower apartment so tall that it almost knocked me over just looking up at it. Once again, I realized that she was from a different world.
But Chisato san’s facial expressions are livelier than when I first met her, and I can talk to her without hesitation.
Without a doubt, the distance between me and her has been shortening. Thinking about it, I feel like I’m a fool, but at the same time, I feel happy and uplifted.
Takeru’s steps were light as he thought about Takatsuki, and in no time at all he was close to home.
But then he notices a suspicious figure at the door of the house. The suspicious figure appeared to be asking about the inside of the house through the frosted glass of the small window by the front door.
Takeru approached the suspicious person, broom in hand, which was propped up by the stairs, and called out to them.
“Hey, what are you doing !”
The suspicious person jumped away in surprise and lowered their head.
“Eek ! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’m friends with the people in this house…! !”
A familiar voice shines the light of the phone on the prowler, and a familiar face appears.
“What are you doing Akari….”
Akari raised her head and her face contorted as if dazzled by Takeru’s light.
When deflecting the light, Akari seemed to realize that it was Takeru, and she looked relieved.
“What’s this, Ken? Don’t startle me. The lights are blinding !”
“No, that’s my line……what are you doing?”
When Takeru asked this while deliberately shining a light in Akari’s eyes, Akari twisted around like a vampire who hated sunlight.
“Stop it ! As the Emperor of Darkness, light is not compatible with me…!”
“Emperor of Darkness…..your name is Akari, and you’re definitely on the side of light.”
“Yes, I was once. But I fell from heaven and became the Emperor of Darkness…ouchie !”
I lightly poked Akari’s forehead as she playfully spouted out her exaggerated lines.
Akari held her forehead with both hands and looked anxiously at Takeru through the gap between her hands.
“Ken…are you still mad at me…?”
Takeru laughed at Akari.
“No, I’m not mad at you. It’s been a while, Akari.”
“…Hehe, yeah, been a while.”
As if caught by Takeru’s smile, Akari smiled happily, and Takeru saw traces of the past. This shy smile has remained the same since long ago.
“I thought Ken was starting to miss me.”
“……Yeah, I did miss you.”
“….Eh?”
Perhaps Takeru’s response was unexpected for Akari, and her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
“That’s why I felt lonely. We’ve been eating breakfast together and going to school together ever since we were in elementary school. Isn’t this the first time we haven’t talked to each other for such a long time? Akari has been a big part of my life. I realized just how big it was.”
This was Takeru’s true feeling.
Every morning for the past two weeks, he had looked at the chair Akari used to sit in and thought about her, and no matter what, he felt a sense of loss, as if there was a gaping hole in his heart.
Akari was stunned for a while by Takeru’s words, but when she swallowed her words, her cheeks blushed and she smiled wryly.
“I-I see. ..Ehehe, I’m kinda embarrassed. I felt the same way without Ken.. I was also just lonely.”
“I see…… that it was the same for both of us, I’m glad.”
At least for Akari, it doesn’t seem like Takeru’s presence was small. Even considering the current situation, she cares enough to come to his house in the middle of the night to check on him, even though she hasn’t received a reply to her messages.
Takeru was relieved that he wasn’t the only one.
Takeru turns his back to Akari, who is fiddling with the ends of her hair, glancing at him shyly as she walks away.
“It’s late, I’ll walk you home.”
“Yeah ! Thanks !”
Akari runs and stands a little beside Takeru and walks a little ahead of him as usual.
Until they arrived at Akari’s house, Takeru and Akari talked about what had happened in the past two weeks. Both Takeru and Akari had a lot of things they wanted to talk about, and there was no end to what they could talk about.
After arriving at Akari’s house, they stopped and chatted for a while.
“Ahaha, I haven’t had this much fun in a long time. I knew it, Takeru is the best friend I’ve ever had !”
“……Yeah, I had fun too.”
Really, I have so much fun talking to her that I lose track of time. I will never see another friend who is more attuned to each other than she is.
Akari skips happily and turns around with a twirl as she puts her hand on the front door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you at the university.”
Takeru’s reply is met with a laugh and a wave of Akari’s hand as if to deny it.
“No, no, no. I’ll have breakfast at Ken’s house tomorrow, so we’ll have breakfast together right?”
“No, I can’t do that.”
Takeru said as if to shun her with as little emotion as possible.
Akari probably thought Takeru would readily agree since they had been chatting happily up until now, but her eyes were blinking and she didn’t seem to be able to fully comprehend the situation.
It is very painful to say what Takeru was about to say to her, who is sincerely happy that she and Takeru have made up with each other and is smiling innocently, but in order for them to move forward, Takeru must tell her the rest of what he has said.
Takeru said clearly once again to Akari, who froze and tilted her head with a smile on her face.
“Akari….I don’t want you to come to our house anymore.”
“…..Eh?”
“I said you don’t have to come to my house anymore. It’s not right for you to come to another man’s….my house, when you have a boyfriend.”
Akari blinked, then burst into laughter.
“Ahaha, what are you talking about? Are you saying that you’re a man?”
It seems that Takeru was not even considered a man.
“Well, maybe from Akari’s point of view, but from Yasaka senpai’s point of view,……,”
As if to interrupt Takeru’s words, the door that Akari had been holding opened, and Akari’s mother peeked out from inside the house.
[Akari…..? What have you been doing on the doorstep all this time?] Akari’s mother’s eyes widen as her gaze shifts from Akari to Takeru, who is facing her. “Oh my, Takeru kun!? Before I knew it, you became quite manly, well, well…! !]
Akari’s mother feels that Takeru has always looked like he did in elementary school, and every time she sees him, she compliments him on how much more mature he has become. It’s not a bad feeling, but it does tickle a little.
“It’s been a while. The last time I saw you was at my high school graduation, so not much has changed.”
“No, that’s not true~ you’re much closer…….”
Akari’s mother opens the front door wide and tries to go out, but Akari stops her by pushing her hard into the house.
“You don’t have to be here Mom ! See you later, Ken !”
After saying that, Akari went inside the house with her mother and closed the door.
I can hear the two of them arguing even inside the house.
[Ehh, Mom wanted to talk to Takeru kun more !]
[Don’t bother Ken ! Mom always says unnecessary things !]
Takeru couldn’t help but laugh at the two, who were as close as ever.
–
–
If you enjoy our content, feel free to donate, Thank you in advance !