“And you know what, onii-tama? Yesterday, I
washed the dishes.”
“You did? You’re such a good girl,
Mutsumi-chan. I bet mom was glad.”
“Eh heh heh. She was really happy♪”
Mutsuki called his family first thing in
the morning, but it was more to cheer himself up than for their sake. He held
the receiver between his cheek and shoulder and listened to the events of his
littlest sister’s previous day as he squinted from the morning sun shining in.
At the top floor of the high-rise apartment
building, the mornings were still cool even with summer so close. He doubted
they would need an air conditioner and he left the window open as he made his
way to the kitchen.
He needed to fix breakfast. He soaked six
slices of bread in syrup and cooked them in a frying pan.
His other little sister, Chiaki, took over
the phone back home.
“How are things there?” he asked her. “Is
everyone the same as always?”
“Pretty much. …Oh, but onee-chan insists
she doesn’t have any classes and so she doesn’t have to get up today.”
“How many Chu-His did she have yesterday?”
“She quit after two.”
“She has classes. Go wake her up.”
“Roger. What about you? Anything new?”
It was 7:15 AM, time to wake up the
“family” here, so he knocked on his roommates’ doors.
“Ugh, I drank too much yesterday.”
Micha trudged out looking ill. When she
noticed he was on the phone, she poked his shoulder with her chin to say “good
morning” and then collapsed into the recliner she loved so much.
The living room had been too messy to walk
through before, but it had been mostly cleaned up.
“Not really. We’re doing fine.”
“I see.”
“Talk to you again tomorrow. I’ll call
right away if anything happens.”
“Okay.”
He set down the receiver.
The food would be just about cooked, so he
returned to the kitchen and grabbed the strawberry jam and orange juice. He
moved the French toast to separate plates and took one to Micha.
“Ugh…”
“Here’s your juice. Or would you prefer
water?”
“Bee-”
“Not happening. Here, have some orange
juice.”
“Boo.”
As he responded to what sounded like some
kind of code, he held out a cup filled to the brim with juice. Still sprawled
out on the recliner, she grabbed the carton from his other hand and started
gulping it down.
He had no choice but to use the cup for
Ange’s breakfast and prepare another drink for himself.
He heard a loud belch
behind him, but as she was a woman, he pretended not to hear it.
“Ahh, I’m just not as young as I used to
be. Sleeping in this heat doesn’t seem to help at all. But
it would be too cold
if I left the air conditioning on.”
“It certainly was a little hard to sleep
last night.”
“My back hurrrts. Mutsuki-kun, give me a
massage later.”
“You’ve had me do that almost every day.
Why don’t you go to a massage parlor?”
“I like it when you grope me. It doesn’t
feel good when other people do it.”
“F-fine…”
He wished she would not say anything that
suggestive first thing in the morning. He had some water ready, but he could
not return to the living room where she was only wearing a tank top and hot
pants that left her midriff exposed. Especially when the tank top material was
so thin he was pretty sure he could see her nipples.
“Ange! It’s morning, Ange.”
In search of help, he went to wake his
other roommate.
“It’s so hot… I hate the human world.”
The door opened to reveal a girl in cute
pajamas with a frightening look on her face.
She was not as scantily clad as Micha, so
the heat was even worse for her. The scent of sweat scattered from her as she
left. When she saw the water in his hand, she swiped it, emptied it in a single
breath, and continued on to the bathroom.
“Don’t you dare peep!”
“I won’t.”
She drove her point home and then closed
the door.
It had been three weeks since he had seen
her naked, so he could only sigh at his roommate’s persistent grudge.
But he smiled when he looked through Ange’s
room’s open door and saw the Lazy Bear body pillow on her bed.
