“Ding-ling ding-ling ding-ling~~~”
“Ungh~~~”
“Crap!”
Click.
“Ding-ling ding-ling ding-ling~~~”
“Ungh ah….. Ohhh, so it was just the alarm. Awaah~~~~~”
Zhong Siji casually turned off the alarm he had never set before, rubbed his still somewhat dazed head, and yawned.
People said that the first thing you had to face when changing a habit was the brain’s resistance. That saying really wasn’t empty.
It had even made him hallucinate hearing someone speaking in the room early in the morning.
It seemed he really had gotten used to being lazy.
“Aiyah, get up, get up~~ If I keep dawdling there won’t be time to make the bento.”
That wouldn’t do. He, Zhong Siji, was not someone who would go back on his word to a friend.
Friends, huh?
This feeling was truly marvelous. Just a little more companionship, and Zhong Siji had begun looking forward to the school life he once hadn’t known how to face.
In the end, humans really were social animals.
Expectation was precisely the best medicine for lifting one’s spirits.
Zhong Siji suddenly felt all his sleepiness vanish and his energy multiply.
Walking toward the bathroom, he just happened to run head-on into Xinya, who had already finished washing up.
At this hour Grandpa and Grandma should have gone out for their morning exercise; they would bring breakfast back a little later.
“Morning, Xinya~~” Zhong Siji smiled brightly, as if he had accomplished something truly worth being proud of.
“Ah wu…… Good morning, Onii-chan. Hehe~~ It’s truly rare to see Onii-chan get up this early.”
Huh?
Why did Xinya look a little nervous?
Hmm, it was probably just that she wasn’t used to seeing her beloved older brother first thing in the morning.
“Hmph hmph~~ From now on you’ll get to see your early-rising Onii-chan a lot more often~~”
“Tsk (quietly)”
“Eh~~ Then that’s really wonderful~~ O~~nii~~chan~~”
Zhong Xinya, harboring secret thoughts, worked hard not to let a single bit of dissatisfaction show.
But what kind of person was Zhong Siji?
As a little-sister complex, if he couldn’t even detect his little sister’s tiny emotions! Could he still call himself a little-sister complex?!
“Xinya, are you…… in a bad mood?” And just now he seemed to have heard…… a tsk?
“Not at all, not at all~~ Being able to see Onii-chan this early makes Xinya very happy~~ Ah! It’s already this late. Xinya has to go prepare today’s bento. Onii-chan, see you later~~”
“Mm, see you later.”
She was still as energetic as always. Just now it must have been his own hallucination.
How could his adorable little sister possibly dislike him getting up early?
Mm! He must still not be fully awake. It was an illusion, all an illusion…… right?
For some reason, Zhong Siji simply felt that his own little sister’s mood didn’t seem very wonderful, especially after he said that from now on she would often see him getting up early.
Could it be that Xinya didn’t want to see him early in the morning?
Could it be that he…….. had been disliked by Xinya?! But why would that be? Had she discovered that he had secretly eaten her favorite pudding and then framed Abu (the puppy raised next door)?
Or had she already found out that the time he claimed to know who she liked was a lie?
Ow, that matter had actually been exposed on the spot.
He still remembered how her face had flushed bright red and she had been so anxious she was about to cry, repeatedly asking him if it was true.
Seeing that the joke had gone too far, he could only steel himself and say it was fake, which made her refuse to speak to him for several days.
After that he never dared to make a similar joke again.
Then just what was the reason?
The more Zhong Siji thought about it the less he could figure it out.
That early-rising energetic spirit of his instantly wilted like an eggplant struck by frost.
………………..
………………..
………………..
Tsk, I got careless! I never expected Onii-chan would actually get up early because he wanted to make bentos.
I almost got discovered.
Habits really are a terrifying thing!
In the kitchen, Zhong Xinya skillfully handled the ingredients while privately reflecting on her own mistake.
From now on it seemed Onii-chan would have to get up this early every day…….. No, weekends shouldn’t count, but only being able to see Onii-chan’s sleeping face on weekends was a bit too cruel for Xinya, wasn’t it?
Should she make Onii-chan change his mind and not make bentos?
But Onii-chan had made up his mind to make bentos for Xinya’s sake. Xinya also really wanted to be able to eat the bentos Onii-chan made every day.
And every morning being able to make each other’s bentos together with Onii-chan in the kitchen…… This! This was completely just!
Completely just! Zhong Xinya suddenly felt that not being able to see Onii-chan’s sleeping face seemed like a sacrifice worth making.
But if she could both see Onii-chan’s sleeping face and make bentos together with Onii-chan every day, that would be even better…………
“Ah!”
While fantasizing about a wonderful future, Zhong Xinya committed the lowest, lowest-level mistake one could make in the kitchen— getting distracted while cutting something.
“Xinya!?”
Zhong Siji had just finished washing up in a dejected mood and walked out of the bathroom when he heard Zhong Xinya’s pained scream.
In an instant all the disappointment was swept away. He sprinted to the kitchen at the fastest speed possible.
His speed was so fast that by the time he reached the kitchen, Zhong Xinya hadn’t even had time to cover the tiny little wound on her finger.
“Onii-chan!?”
Yes, it was only a tiny little wound, yet Zhong Siji felt as if the sky was about to collapse.
He wanted to immediately turn back and go look for the medicine box, but Zhong Xinya seemed to know what he was thinking and called out to him. “Onii-chan, there are band-aids in the cabinet next to the rice cooker.”
“Oh oh!” Zhong Siji spun around sharply, went to the cabinet, took out a band-aid, and then in one arrow-like step stood in front of Zhong Xinya.
Zhong Xinya looked at her older brother, who had become this nervous over such a small injury of hers, and while finding it a little amusing she also felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in her heart.
She lightly stretched her injured finger toward Zhong Siji.
Zhong Siji carefully stuck the band-aid on as if he were repairing the most precious national-treasure-level artistic collection.
“Does it hurt?”
“Mm….. just a tiny bit? Getting a little hurt in the kitchen is unavoidable.”
Hearing Zhong Xinya speak as if she was already used to this kind of thing, Zhong Siji subconsciously tightened his grip on his little sister’s hand.
The once delicate and smooth little hand now already felt a bit rough.
In a few places he could even vaguely sense the existence of calluses.
Always making his little sister worry, contentedly enjoying the bentos his little sister had worked hard to get up early and make, and now when his little sister got hurt, if she hadn’t reminded him he wouldn’t even have known where the band-aids were……….. As an older brother he seemed really useless.
“I’m sorry, Xinya.”
Zhong Xinya, who had been enjoying her older brother’s gentle care, never expected her own older brother to suddenly say that. “Why does Onii-chan need to apologize?”
“I remember when you were little your hands were very delicate. Holding them felt like holding a piece of smooth, tender, fine jade. Mom said such beautiful hands were born to enjoy wealth and honor. But only a few years have passed, and your hands are almost growing calluses.”
Although Zhong Xinya really wanted to say that it was perfectly normal for a girl’s hands to be a bit rough, looking at her older brother’s guilty appearance she still didn’t say that.
“Onii-chan is really something. This is all because I’ve grown up.”
Zhong Siji, who was currently overwhelmed by dejection, clearly didn’t take that explanation in. “I…… in the end I really don’t deserve to be Xinya’s olde—”
“Onii-chan!!!!”
Zhong Xinya’s somewhat piercing cry forced the unfinished words back down his throat.
He already felt regret.
How could he have suddenly forgotten?
When she was little, the moment she heard similar words she would come crying to him for comfort. How…… how could words like that come out of his own mouth?
Zhong Siji was a little afraid to raise his head and look at her.
But if even at this moment he didn’t dare look into his little sister’s eyes?
Then he truly wouldn’t deserve to be an older brother.
“Xinya…….”
As expected, plump tears had already formed at the corners of his little sister’s beautiful eyes.