Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.
Chapter 2 – The Trigger \nVolume 1\n<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nWhen I came home, my sister was in the living room, which was unusual.\n
“Welcome back.”\n
Sayaka was taking out a cup of barley tea from the refrigerator while wearing headphones around her neck. She must have come downstairs because she was thirsty.\n
To be honest, I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Sayaka. The feeling of despair that I had done something was lingering in my mind. It was already past five o’clock.\n
“Ha~a……”\n
After that happened, I wandered aimlessly around the city. It wasn’t that I had a destination in mind. I knew that if I went home right away, my mistakes of the day would come back to haunt me.\n
I got a cup of barley tea from Sayaka and took a sip.\n
“Thank you.”\n
As I was about to leave, Sayaka called out to me.\n
“hey, shitty brother, are you okay? Why are you so down?”\n
I stopped and turned my head back.\n
“Nothing like that. I’m fine as usual.”\n
But Sayaka looked at me suspiciously with a “What?” look on her face.\n
“If it was a normal thing, you would start lecturing me as soon as we met, telling me not to play games all the time, to study, to straighten my shoes at the door, etc.”\n
“Ah, ……, that’s right. You should study hard. And keep your shoes in order”\n
“That sounds like an afterthought.”\n
In fact, I can’t help it because it is an afterthought. In hindsight, I wonder if this preaching habit was wrong. Whenever I saw Sayaka, I couldn’t resist complaining about her sloppiness, and I wonder if that’s why I ended up lecturing Enami-san as well.\n
“And clean up your room, okay? I’m sure you’ll be eating sweets again anyway. Make sure you throw away the garbage yourself.”\n
“…… Normally, You would start cleaning my room without question.”\n
“…… Why don’t you do it yourself for a change?”\n
“This is a serious injury.” (TN: I think she’s referring to something on military terms as she usually does)\n
Saika tilts the cup and drinks the barley tea. But as she does so, it spills and splashes on her clothes. The chest area of the hoodie she is wearing gets wet.\n
“Ah, already..what are you doing?”\n
She’s always going to be a child, isn’t she? I had no choice but to turn around and hand her the handkerchief I had in my pocket.\n
“Thank you.”\n
But when I saw Sayaka wiping the wet spot with the handkerchief, I was taken aback again.\n
“When I look closely, you still have food residue on your mouth. No, not that one, …… this one …… ah, lend me that already.”\n
I snatched up the handkerchief and wiped it off the edge of her mouth.\n
“Hmm?”\n
“What is it?”\n
As I wipe her mouth, she cast a suspicious look at me. As I folded up the handkerchief, she said.\n
“There’s something wrong with you, after all, isn’t there? I can tell. Did you get rejected or something?”\n
“No, not at all. There’s nothing strange.”\n
“Hmm.”\n
But she didn’t pursue the matter any further. I guess she thought it would be useless to ask any more questions.\n
“Anyway, don’t snack anymore. I’ll make dinner soon, so don’t play games too much and study.”\n
“…… Yes, yes.”\n\n
Then I went back to my room. After changing out of my uniform, I stepped into the living room again. And for some reason, I found Sayaka still in the living room.\n
“What’s wrong?”\n
”No, nothing.”\n
She was lying down on the sofa, watching the TV, which she usually didn’t do. Moreover, the program was the news. It was an uncharacteristic choice for Sayaka.\n
“Shitty brother!”\n
As I put on my apron and stood in the kitchen, she called out to me.\n
“You’re a little tired, aren’t you?”\n
I stopped just as I propped up the cutting board in the sink to wash it.\n
“Tired?”\n
“Yes. I think you’re pushing yourself too hard.”\n
“…… I’m not pushing myself.”\n
“Right”\n
That’s all she said and turned off the TV. Then, Sayaka stood up and looked at me.\n
“What is it?”\n
“It’s nothing. It’s just that if you push yourself too hard, you’ll be attacked in your sleep and killed on the battlefield.”\n
“No, it’s not a battlefield.”\n
I scrubbed the cutting board with a sponge and rinsed off the foam with tap water.\n
“Well, I’m going back to my room. Call me when the food is ready.”\n
“Yeah”\n
And then she went out of the living room.\n
…… It seems that I have made her feel uneasy. I put the cutting board in the cooking area after washing it and sighed.\n
I’m not pushing myself. There is no lie in those words.\n
In fact, I’ve only chosen the path that’s easiest for me. Since that day, everything about me has fallen apart. In order to protect my daily life, in order to protect myself, there was no other way but to do this.\n
I slapped myself in the face. I can’t stay depressed forever.\n
–Now, what should I have for dinner today?\n
Switching my thoughts, I opened the refrigerator door.\n\n
<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nTN: This chapter and next two chapters are in dedication to the kind person who donated Ko-fi for me for the work in this series. It made me really happy for some reason 😀\n
And sorry that I took 2 days to notice that I had received it 😛 \n\n\n