“…………..”
“…………..”
Ever since this small family had been reorganized, the Zhong family’s kitchen had never been this ‘lively’ in the morning.
But if one went back to before the reorganization, there had been the famous scene of Dad Zhong straddling the completely drunk Mom Zhong and frantically slapping her face.
The siblings’ silence lasted only an instant.
Zhong Siji wanted to wipe away his little sister’s tears the way he had when they were children.
“Xinya, it’s big brother’s fault. Come on, let big brother wipe your tears first.”
But Zhong Xinya slightly turned her head aside to dodge. “I didn’t cry…”
Unlike when other people bullied her into tears and she would come to him for comfort, when she argued with him she would still act stubborn and insist she hadn’t cried even if she had.
That much had never changed from childhood until now.
“Xinya, big brother really was wrong. Can you forgive me just this once? At worst I’ll make you another one of ‘those.’”
Zhong Xinya, who had still been sulking, suddenly cleared up like clouds parting for sunshine.
“Really? Big brother will really make Xinya another ‘Siji Wish Coupon’?”
The Siji Wish Coupon, true to its name, was a paper voucher that let Zhong Siji help fulfill its owner’s wish.
He had made them when they were little out of toy checks to comfort children—a creation specifically for coaxing kids who cried and made a fuss without end into being happy again.
“Haha, you’re still the same as when you were little. The moment I mention giving you this, no matter how unhappy you were before, you immediately smile.”
Eh? Am I smiling right now?
Zhong Xinya couldn’t help but touch her face subconsciously.
Watching his little sister’s reaction, Zhong Siji couldn’t help smiling either.
Seeing the teasing on her big brother’s face, Zhong Xinya felt annoyed at how spineless she was while also growing angry all over again at his earlier slip of the tongue.
“Hmph. Just one ‘Siji Wish Coupon’ is nowhere near enough.”
“Uh… then three?”
“Three… three?! Really… ptooey ptooey ptooey! Big brother!! I’m being serious!!”
“Okay, okay, okay. You say it, you say it…”
“Honestly…”
Looking at the way her big brother was acting, no matter how big her anger had been, Zhong Xinya had already let nine-tenths of it go.
But there was still something she had to ask clearly.
“Big brother, why did you say that?”
Zhong Siji of course knew what his little sister was asking.
“Look, I’m the big brother, right? Yet it’s always been Xinya taking care of me—whether worrying about my school stuff or making me bentos and all that. As the big brother, I haven’t been able to do anything for Xinya in return…”
“Big brother…”
“Hm?”
“You big idiot!!!”
“Eh eh eh eh??”
“Who was the one who ended up covered in bruises from fighting those annoying jerks every day because of Xinya? Who was the one who knelt and kowtowed to the doctor when Xinya got sick? And who was the one who skimmed and saved and secretly worked part-time for Xinya?”
“Xin… Xinya, how did you know I was secretly working part-time…”
“That’s not the point, is it? The point is why does big brother feel like he hasn’t done anything for Xinya?”
“This… this is all just what I should do as a big brother.”
“Then Xinya is also just doing what a little sister should do for her big brother!!!!”
The girl’s sudden outburst left Zhong Siji momentarily speechless. “Xin… Xinya…”
“Big brother always treats everything he does for Xinya as only natural, saying he hasn’t done anything for her. Then big brother should also accept that Xinya wants to do things for him too, right? Why can’t big brother treat the things Xinya does for him as only natural as well!! Doing things for each other as a matter of course—isn’t that what siblings are? Haven’t we always supported each other like this all along!”
His little sister’s fierce emotions crashed into Zhong Siji’s heart along with her words. For a long while he couldn’t say anything, only silently wiped away her tears.
“I’ve been taught a lesson by my own little sister. Thank you, Xinya.”
“Hmph~~~~”
“Then there’s one more thing. Xinya, will you let me make a big brother’s bento that my little sister can eat with a clear conscience?”
“Idiot big brother. If you’re asking me to agree, how can that count as letting me eat with a clear conscience? But whatever. I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll turn a blind eye.”
“I thought you were in a bad mood. Earlier in the washroom you looked all nervous, like you’d done something guilty.”
“Ahaha, big brother, what are you talking about? All right, all right, hurry up and make the bento or we’ll be late for school…”
Zhong Xinya jumped three feet high like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on.
…………………….
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“Mm, that should about do it, right?”
Zhong Siji wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and stuffed everything he had worked on all morning into the bento box.
“Big brother…”
Watching Zhong Siji desperately cram things into that pitiful bento box, Zhong Xinya eyed him with some suspicion.
“What’s wrong?”
Zhong Siji didn’t even turn his head. Right now he was calculating how to squeeze in even more food. He’d been careless yesterday and hadn’t bought a bigger bento box.
Besides, they were all at the age of growing.
How could they not eat more?
So on top of the cucumber and eggs he had fried several more sausages and stuffed them in, making the already overloaded bento box even harder to handle.
“With this many dishes, it’s not just for big brother to eat alone, is it? Who else?”
Care… careful! Cold sweat streamed down Zhong Siji’s forehead.
Although Xinya had always wanted him to make more friends, for some reason he had a feeling that if she found out the friends he had made were…
“Da… Dad!”
“Mm, just as Classmate Runhui said, it’s quite sweet~~”
The feeling of being completely done for!
But on the matter of appetite he really couldn’t bluff his way past her!
After all, compared to himself she probably knew better exactly how much he ate… He could only go all in!
“Well, actually, big brother made some friends at school. I made extra so they could try it and give me their opinions.”
That’s right—sincerity was always the ultimate move.
“Eh!!! Big brother made friends?”
Zhong Xinya’s cute little eyes went wide as if she had heard something unbelievable.
“What are their personalities like? Are they good people? Will they bully big brother?”
“What are you thinking? They… they’re good people! One is a bit timid, one is a bit black-bellied, but both of them are good people!”
In Zhong Xinya’s mind two images instantly appeared: one a slightly timid, glasses-wearing, unfashionable otaku guy, and one with long hair who looked like a somewhat bad-boy-ish spicy younger brother.
“Then are they…”
“Hey~~ Siji~~ the things you asked me to help buy, I’ve brought them back~~”
“Eh! Coming! Xinya, I’m going to get the things first.”
Thank goodness. Luckily Grandma called me just now, otherwise the more I said the more I’d mess up.
Watching her big brother’s hurried departing back, how could Zhong Xinya not know he was deliberately trying not to say more. “Hmph!”
But if that was the case…
“Wah, what is this! Is this the food you made? This is way too disgusting! Friendship over!”
“Oh no! My friends!”
Such a scene suddenly appeared in Zhong Xinya’s mind.
“For the sake of big brother’s friendship, I really can’t let him take this bento to school.”
Mm, it’s for this reason. It’s absolutely not that Xinya wants to eat the first bento big brother made or anything. Absolutely not.