After getting off work, the Rou siblings each carried their own thoughts as they arrived at the large supermarket near the company dormitory to stock up on ingredients for tomorrow’s event.
Tomorrow is a holiday, so we need to relax properly.
Perhaps many people had the same idea, which is why the supermarket was quite crowded today.
“Food for tomorrow? My brother doesn’t eat squid, you know.”
“I know, I don’t eat it either.”
Mossima can’t eat mushrooms, and she herself can’t eat squid, so those two ingredients had to be ruled out first.
Also, taste-wise, she didn’t like spicy or heavily flavored food either.
“So what’s something light that everyone can enjoy together?”
Well, since we have plenty of time to prepare, why don’t we…
“How about BBQ?”
Seeing Clara’s hesitation, Lucia made the suggestion.
“Preparing the skewers and such will be a bit of a hassle, but we have an entire morning to work with. We can take our time preparing until the flower car arrives.”
“That does sound nice. There’s a dusty charcoal grill sitting in the apartment’s storage room.”
Clara wasn’t particularly fond of BBQ, but since it was Lucia’s idea, she chose to go along with it.
The balcony gets cold in winter, and the charcoal grill could provide warmth while livening up the atmosphere—it really was a good suggestion.
“Alright, let’s do BBQ then.”
As Clara said this, she casually dropped a box of pudding into the shopping cart.
Lucia, pushing the cart, looked at the pudding and let out a wry smile.
“Senior, it wouldn’t be so bad if you were always my senior.”
Those words left Clara completely bewildered.
“Huh? Could I become a junior? No, of course not~”
Lucia shook her head and continued pushing the cart, following Clara.
Besides the ingredients, they also bought BBQ dipping sauce, skewers, drinks…
But before they bought too much, Lucia advised, “Senior, maybe we shouldn’t buy too much? If we can’t finish it all, that’s just wasted money.”
Clara glanced at the shopping cart and said helplessly:
“Huh? But everything we’ve bought so far is vegetables? Our budget probably isn’t that generous.”
After all, this supermarket was in the city center, so the prices were on the higher side, and Lucia and Clara’s wallets couldn’t really handle it.
Regarding Lucia’s concern, Clara patted her chest confidently.
“It’s fine! Our salaries are coming soon! And on top of that, I’ve got bonuses from the Association and the Administration Bureau coming my way!”
Just mentioning her salary made the corners of Clara’s mouth curl up involuntarily.
Even though she’d lost that five million bonus, the Supreme Leader had promised her a Minister-level base salary. As for exactly how much that was, she’d only know when payday came.
Clara was picking out suitable meat in front of the freezer case when Lucia came up behind her, placed a hand on her slender shoulder, leaned down to whisper by her ear:
“Hehe, when my salary comes in, I want to give… Senior a surprise.”
“A surprise?”
A surprise that would cost her salary?
“I’m already happy just knowing you feel that way!”
Clara immediately shook her head in refusal, and added:
“Don’t waste your money. Instead of spending it on me, why not send it back to your old home and make your mother happy… And besides! You’re not even buying anything for your brother—why are you buying something for me?”
So she, as the elder brother, was being overlooked?
Thinking about it that way, Clara felt a little hurt.
“Hehe, what’s the difference between Senior and my brother?”
Lucia’s words were somewhat ambiguous.
Her breath brushed lightly against Clara’s ear, making it tickle, and Clara whispered back:
“Ever since I came to Central City, Senior Clara has always looked after me. Compared to that, my brother is always so busy~ My brother is very important to me, but does that mean Senior, who’s always taken care of me, isn’t? That’s why I want to repay Senior too.”
Clara was holding a box of beef tongue in her hand but hesitated to put it in the cart. In the end, Lucia took it from her and placed it inside.
“I’m Senior’s equipment maintainer, so… I want to be useful too.”
Rather than being touched, Clara just felt that Lucia had been acting strangely lately.
A sister this clingy—she hadn’t been like this even when they were kids, right?
“…L-let’s just head back to the dormitory first.” Clara said.
“Mhm~ Okay!”
Thankfully, clingy as she was, she was still obedient.
Even though they’d bought quite a lot for tomorrow, the two sisters were both fairly strong, so carrying everything back to the dormitory wasn’t too tiring.
But just as they finished loading the ingredients into the big double-door refrigerator, Lucia suddenly dropped a question that startled Clara again.
“Senior, do you want a back scrubbing today?”
“Huh?!”
“Senior feels just like my little sister… no, my elder sister.”
“An elder sister?”
Right now, she really might be considered an elder sister, and…
Clara shook her head and asked back:
“No wait, that’s not the question—why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?”
Just then, her not-so-bright squid brain began spinning at full speed, eventually deducing a possible conclusion.
Could it be that Lucia, she…
[Clara, you finally figured it out?]
Has Lucia fallen for Clara—for her as she is now?
This is bad.
Could it be that she’d been too kind to Lucia, causing her sister’s sexual orientation to shift?
Come to think of it, was Lucia always this aggressive, this forward of a girl?
Lucia didn’t notice Clara’s mental storm and simply continued:
“I’ve always thought Senior was very kind since long ago… It’s perfectly normal for sisters to scrub each other’s backs, but for now, I only want to scrub Senior’s back.”
See, the girl definitely likes her!!
No, Lucia… We can’t have that kind of relationship.
Clara shook her little head, but looking at Lucia’s expectant gaze, she just couldn’t bring herself to say the words of refusal.
But just then, a voice call rescued Clara from her dilemma.
“Hm? Who’s calling?” Lucia asked.
Clara pulled out her phone and looked—Beast Fox Bell. That was a rare caller.
Could it be that she couldn’t make this week’s manuscript deadline again and urgently needed Clara to come help?
Working part-time at Beast Fox Bell’s studio was a decent gig. When money was tight, she could earn some extra cash, polish her drawing skills, and learn the professional manga production process…
Clara happily answered the call and asked respectfully:
“Sensei Beast Fox Bell, is there something you need?”
“Clara, I ask you…”
The voice on the other end was quite serious.
“Have you seen Editor Nangong recently?”
“Huh? It has been a while since I last saw her.”
“I suspect something might have happened to her.”
“What do you mean?” Clara frowned.
“The publishing house told me that Editor Nangong has been fired. They’ve assigned me a new editor… That’s a minor matter, though.”
“The key issue is that Editor Nangong’s dismissal was handled entirely through email—she never even showed up at the publishing house in person.”
Miss Nangong?