No matter what, it was kind of funny to have those thoughts when the age gap between me and my sister was almost like a generation apart.
But still, I couldn’t help it. Honestly, who wouldn’t feel good if a young, pretty girl showed interest in their partner?
My sister couldn’t be called my partner yet, and in fact, there was no system for same-sex marriage in this country, but still…
Of course, whether I felt competitive or not, my sister and Gayoung didn’t know about it. They couldn’t know unless I said something in the first place.
So, I just tried my best not to let those negative feelings show. If I let them show, it wouldn’t look good to Gayoung or my sister.
“It’s just that something good happened.”
“Something good?”
When my sister answered with a smile, Gayoung tilted her head, but my sister didn’t feel the need to explain further.
“By the way, how did you know? That something good happened.”
She didn’t explain, but I guess she was curious about how Gayoung knew, so my sister asked her.
“Ah, well…”
Gayoung looked at my sister for a moment, then glanced at me briefly. After that, she turned her gaze back to my sister and spoke.
“Your expressions are brighter than usual. Both of you.”
Was it that obvious?
Yuri-noona had also reacted as if she sensed something when she saw us… Since Yuri-noona is very perceptive, it’s hard to say if it was just based on the two of them noticing our situation objectively, but on the other hand, it also meant that we were showing enough to be noticed by two people who are good at reading the situation.
I’m not sure if we can hide it any longer.
“I see…”
My sister answered a bit absentmindedly.
“Hmmm…”
Gayoung, looking at the two of us who had gone quiet, seemed to be thinking about whether to say something more, then just shrugged.
“Well, I’ll help. It’s my first time coming out on the weekend. Were there a lot of customers?”
“There weren’t many today.”
Fortunately, Gayoung didn’t dig any deeper or try to guess the nature of our relationship.
It wasn’t because Gayoung was particularly considerate, but rather because it’s not common to think about such things when seeing two people of the same gender together.
Of course, there could be actions that might cause misunderstandings, like holding hands, hugging, or kissing. And if it were two men, even less obvious actions could easily be misunderstood.
But as long as we tried, we could hide it if we wanted to.
…At the same time, it made me think that our relationship might be one that’s hard for others to understand or accept.
The reactions of my coworkers would probably be pretty unusual. After all, the place where we lived didn’t really accept same-sex relationships. It wasn’t like some of the churches on Earth that saw homosexuality as a sin or openly opposed it, but the Irellisia Church’s teachings subtly hinted that it would be better for a man and a woman to be together.
Maybe it was because I had been a man originally, and they’d seen me like that for five years.
…Come to think of it, my sister liked me when I was a man.
The reason my sister likes me now isn’t because I’m a woman.
Thinking that way, I didn’t have to worry about my sister’s attention turning to Gayoung.
And with that thought, I felt a bit more at ease.
*
By the time evening came around on the weekend, quite a few customers had arrived. Maybe it was because they were too lazy to cook, or perhaps they stopped by to pick up some bread on their way back. It wasn’t as busy as a weekday morning, but still, enough bread sold that there was almost nothing left.
It wasn’t a huge bakery, nor was it famous enough to be considered a local landmark. The cream-filled bread made with fresh cream was somewhat famous, but that was about it. My sister didn’t seem to want the bakery to become more popular, and honestly, I didn’t think it needed to.
Because of that, we don’t bake too much bread on a regular basis. We just bake enough for the day. We only prepare as much as will sell, making sure there’s not too much leftover.
“Do you want to take the leftover bread?”
My sister asked me and Gayoung.
“Wow, really?”
Gayoung’s reaction was always the same whenever we were offered leftover bread. She responded as if it was the first time, with a fresh expression.
I’ve taken some a few times, but these days, I usually just give it all to Gayoung.
I still have the habit of eating a lot, but at home, there’s always plenty of food, so I don’t need to take the bread.
Even if I come home late, my coworkers always prepare food. If I don’t eat it, I can just have it the next morning, so it’s not a big deal.
With that in mind, I just give it all to Gayoung, since she’s still at that age where she eats a lot.
With a big smile, Gayoung started stuffing the bread into a bag, and we slowly began preparing to close the store. There was still time left to go watch a movie. It wasn’t urgent; we had enough time.
We quickly finished cleaning the shop, changed clothes, and headed out.
I briefly put my bag on the counter. As I checked the shop to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, Gayoung, who had just finished changing, came out from the back.
“Oh, I’ll help!”
She said, placing her bag on the counter, but—
Because she was holding a bag full of bread, she misjudged the distance and accidentally knocked my bag that was already on the counter.
Of course, I had placed my bag on the counter in a way that was easy to do. Since the bottom of the bag was flat, it stood up pretty steadily on its own. There wasn’t really a reason I placed it like that, it was just the natural way I set it down, so it happened to be standing up.
Also, I usually didn’t bother closing the top part of the small bag tightly. It had a snap button, so it would close firmly with a simple press, and even if it was swung around a bit, it wouldn’t open. However, that also meant that it took a little longer to open it with one hand.
If it took too long, I might miss the ‘urgent moment’ when I needed to open it.
…Although, in this country, there wasn’t really an “urgent moment” where I’d need to pull out my pocketknife.
The bag was too far away for me to run and catch it, and my sister was on the other side of the shop, inspecting things. Gayoung was on the opposite side of the counter, so she didn’t manage to catch my falling bag.
As a result,
Thud, scrape.
With the sound of the bag falling, items scattered and rolled around the floor.
For a brief moment, the shop was silent.
“Ah, I-I’m sorry!”
Gayoung yelled as she rushed out from behind the counter, but I moved first.
Since my physical abilities hadn’t changed much from when I was in Irellisia, I was able to reach the bag before Gayoung, who was coming around the counter.
But even so, I couldn’t gather the things inside the bag.
There weren’t many things in my bag, after all.
There were only a few survival tools I kept in case of a ‘real emergency.’
For example, a 500ml bottle of water that could be used in case of an emergency.
A calorie bar that could be shared and eaten slowly until rescue arrives.
…A lighter, in case there’s a need for fire.
…Something to cut or break,
– or maybe a folding knife to protect myself.
The water bottle didn’t roll as far as I expected, probably because it was heavy. The calorie bar, being flat and rectangular, didn’t fly far either. Since it was in the form of an energy bar, there was no worry about it breaking apart.
Fortunately, my smartphone was placed on the counter, not in my bag, so it didn’t fall.
But the knife… The folding knife, in its closed state, hit the floor hard, bounced once, and then, with that energy, slid smoothly across the marble floor.
By chance, it slid right to the feet of my sister, who had rushed over to help when she saw the bag fall.
“…….”
My sister’s gaze dropped to the ground.
Fortunately, it seemed that Gayoung, who had gone behind the counter when the bag fell, didn’t see it, but my sister had clearly noticed the knife.
Even if someone isn’t interested in things like this, they would still know what it is.
At least it was lucky that it wasn’t a switchblade, and the blade didn’t open when it hit the floor.
“I’m sorry!”
Gayoung, who arrived a beat later, quickly crouched down and started picking up the bag and its contents.
At the sound, my sister looked up, and for a moment, our eyes met.
Then, she quickly bent down, picked up the knife, and slipped it into her pocket.
I’m not sure what that action meant yet.
Did she do it to keep Gayoung from finding out? It was hard to think about anything beyond the immediate situation in front of me.
“No, it’s okay. There’s nothing that can break.”
I quickly crouched down next to Gayoung and began to gather the things from the bag.
Of course, my mind was a mess in the meantime.