As I gently opened the door, my sister, who had only peeked her face out from the living room, came rushing towards me.
「A-Are you okay!?」
「I don’t have any major injuries.」
Just my arm hurts a bit, I whisper, and the ghost (or darkness) looks worried and puzzled.
She is holding a ladle with her amorphous body.
Perhaps she had been making miso soup, as a faint scent of miso fragments lingered.
「Your arm is swollen.」
「I got some special effects makeup done. There was a free trial just around the corner.」
「I’ll put a cold compress on it.」
My sister skillfully uses her tentacles to apply a cold compress to my arm, which she seemingly produced from nowhere. The unique cool sensation seeps in.
Is she a ghost that looks like darkness, or darkness that looks like a ghost?
A question that arises every time I see her. No sign of resolution.
It’s unclear which expression is correct, but in any case, she’s a type of monster, so my sister has many tentacle-like arms.
That’s why she seems capable of performing multiple tasks at once. While holding a ladle with one tentacle and applying the compress with another, she uses yet another tentacle to tidy up the shoes I had carelessly taken off.
If I close my eyelids, it’s like having a housekeeper.
Well, the one here is my blood-related little sister──or is she?
Just as I was about to nod, I stumbled upon a major question.
At the root of her existence, she was supposed to be born from the same mother as me, so she should undoubtedly be my real sister.
But in reality, since she wasn’t born, we’re not blood-related.
Yet she’s right here in front of me. Is she my real sister or my stepsister?
Either way, it doesn’t matter since she can’t be a heroine, but once I started wondering, I couldn’t stop.
It’s not right to ask her directly. She probably doesn’t know the answer anyway.
The truth will remain forever in darkness…
「Why did you get injured?」
「They were hiring for a job where you fall down stairs.」
「What’s the hourly wage?」
「Zero.」
「That’s a scam.」
More like a form of mass suicide.
My sister shook her dark body, expressing her anger with her entire being.
──The topic of today’s dinner was “the cause of my injury”, and not wanting to give Sakasegawa-san a bad impression by speaking ill of her, I dodged my sister’s persistent questions and struggled to finish the simmered taro with my aching right hand.
Thanks to that, I slept soundly at night.
A simple way to fall asleep. Protect a monster by falling down stairs, then eat while being scolded by your monster’s family.
No way.
◇
「Ahh, that looks hard to eat.」
「Yeah, it’s tough with just my left hand.」
The cold compress is clearly visible on my right hand.
──Light Novels──
──Read Here──
When Nanaka, who bent the front part of the lump of meat, asked, “Why are you wearing a cold compress?” I explained that I had unfortunately fallen down some stairs due to fatigue.
She quickly noticed how difficult it was for me to eat my lunch, and after seemingly coming up with an idea, she clapped her tentacles together──just like a human would clap their hands──,
「Shall I feed you?」
「Unn.」
「Say ahh~」
「Don’t jump to conclusions, I haven’t decided yet.」
When I went to the hospital, they said my bones weren’t broken. However, it seems I have a slight sprain, so I’m supposed to avoid using it as much as possible.
When it comes to eating, I can manage with my left hand.
But still, there’s a world of difference compared to my skilled right hand…
However, that doesn’t directly lead to having a classmate say “ahh” to me.
In fact, it would be troublesome if it did. If students who are interested in Nanaka found out, a craze for falling down stairs might start. Probably.
And the morning paper’s headline would be,
“Madness! A School Producing Mass Suicides, Investigating the Cause!” and,
“The cause? It’s definitely Adashino You. The renowned beauty Kusakabe Nanaka-san was feeding him because he couldn’t use his right arm well. Everyone got jealous and fell down the stairs, didn’t they?” it would say.
My house would receive countless nuisance calls, and an excessive number of posters would be plastered on my home, draining my mental and physical strength.
Once I receive an “ahh” from Nanaka, it will be the end for me.
「I don’t want to die yet, so I’ll pass.」
「What do you mean!?」
She extended her tentacles as if in shock.
Is it the same principle as a cat extending its tail when surprised?
The lump of meat has a mysterious ecology.
It was the worst possible future I had thought up on the spot just to avoid being fed by a lump of meat, but I wonder which would cause more damage, dedicating my first youthful event of being fed by the opposite sex to a monster, or the other scenario.
It’s a dilemma.
Thanks to Nanaka’s outrageous statement, it seemed like I was receiving the gaze of about two-thirds of the class. The remaining third were only listening with their ears.
In other words, I’m the center of interest in the entire classroom, and a careless response could make me the target of gunfire. All that would be left is me full of holes.
However, denying Nanaka, who is shining with some mysterious liquid, might cause problems, and perhaps I have no way out.
「Here, ahh~」
「Can you please not?」
「Why not?」
「That’s a difficult question to answer.」
How should I explain this?
Because she’s a lump of meat… I’ll be killed.
Because it’s embarrassing… I’ll be mistaken for a pervert who gets aroused by a lump of meat.
Wait, we’re not in that kind of relationship… It’s like the last words of a misunderstood man. I’d die of shame.
Conclusion.
No way to avoid it.
Game set.
Thank you for the match.