Chapter 5

TL: Chaos

ED: Mateo

My dream of making good use of my evenings would not come true by any means.

For the past two days, my room has been occupied by Yankee JKs, and I’ve spent many nights just fighting with them.

“Definitely today… I’ll show them by obtaining my own time.”

The time was 6 o’clock in the afternoon.

When I got home from university, I stood in front of the front door and fired myself up.

But as soon as I opened the door, I noticed something different.

“Huh? No shoes?”

The shoes that were usually scattered about, were nowhere to be seen… which meant that Mana and her friends were probably not in the house.

I should have been lucky that they weren’t here, but I felt disappointed that all the fighting spirit I had, went to waste.

I walked to the bathroom with a difficult face, washed my hands, and headed for my room.

Today, I couldn’t hear anything as I approached my room.

—They really aren’t here… It was quiet inside the house.

Where did she go? Well, she’s a high school girl, she must have a lot of places to play. It was only six o’clock, a normal time to play. There is a possibility that she might have gone to another friend’s house.

Wherever they went, they were probably making noise in their usual way. I imagined Mana and the others having fun, and my cheeks relaxed a little.

—Well, I’ll just properly relax today….

When I opened the door, my room was completely dark.

I immediately pressed the light switch near the entrance.

The room lit up quickly.

Then…I immediately noticed something unusual in the room.

The futon on the bed was bulging as if it was wrapped around a single person.

It was a trap.

I instantly went into alert mode.

If there’s someone hiding in my bed, it’s either Mana or one of her friends. In other words, the yankee girls are probably trying to catch me off guard by pretending not to be in the house, then suddenly jump out and surprise me.

—Kukuku. I can see through all your thoughts, yankee girls. Don’t think you can outwit me with your low-class high school yankee level thinking!

The first to move wins.

It’s fine if I simply peel the futon off her before she jumps out.

Without hesitation, I headed for the bed and peeled off the futon with great force.

—*rustle*

The existence that was hidden in the bed was exposed under the bright fluorescent light.

Her blonde hair was so bright that it reflected the fluorescent light. Long eyelashes framing her closed eyelids. ‘Su—Su—’ Regulated breathing escaping from her slightly open lips.

It was Erika-chan, curled up on the bed in a circular shape.

—No, are you really asleep?

I retorted in my mind. The reason I didn’t say this out loud was because I wasn’t sure if I should let the sleeping Erika-chan continue sleeping like this.

Not knowing what to do, I stood still and looked at Erika-chan’s sleeping face.

She had a beautiful sleeping face. When she was sleeping, she didn’t look like a yankee, she looked like an innocent beautiful girl.

…To be honest, she was so cute that my heart was pounding.

—Wait, it’s bad to just keep gazing at her whether she’s asleep or not!

I retorted to myself and looked away from Erika.

There was no sign of any other yankee girls lurking in this room. If they were lurking around, they would have come out to tease me when I was staring at Erika-chan.

If that’s the case, then Erika was acting alone.

Maybe she was trying to scare me, crawled under the futon and fell asleep. Maybe the others… left Erika-chan alone and went out. I don’t think Mana and the others would go through all the trouble to put away the shoes at the entrance to make it look like no one was there.

As I was pondering, Erika stirred.

“Nn…………morning??”

She looked at me with a half-asleep face.

“It’s past six in the afternoon. It’s still night.”

I replied honestly.

Then Erika-chan yawned loudly and said,

“Fuaa… Onii-san, thank you for the inconvenience.”

“Um…that’s my bed though…”

“Yeah. I know. On the contrary, if it’s your room but it’s not your bed, wouldn’t that be crazy.”

“That’s true…. That would be crazy.”

Erika-chan continued to roll around on the bed while talking with me. For some reason, she showed no signs of getting off the bed.

“Why were you sleeping in my bed?”

I asked her straight.

“Ah, sorry… I got really sleepy because of my period.”

“Don’t you think you could be a little more subtle about it?”

‘I’m not feeling well’… you could’ve responded with something like that. The reply was so direct that it was hard to respond.

I know that men should be understanding of women’s periods, but I would get perplexed if my sister’s girlfriends suddenly come out to me about their periods.

If I had a girlfriend before, I might have been able to accept it a little more naturally, but…I’ve never had that experience.

Unaware of my feelings, Erika-chan continued.

“I’m the type of person who has a heavier period on the first day than on the second…”

“Too frank…”

“What’s so confusing about that? You have a sister, so it’s normal to talk about it, right? Periods.”

“No, Mana doesn’t talk about it openly in front of me.”

“Hmm. So that’s how it is. Well, I’m an only child, so I don’t really understand stuff like that.”

As Erika-chan said this, she slowly raised her body and sat on the bed.

“…I’m hungry. Please give me some food, Onii-san.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m so hungry, I can’t get out of bed. I can’t. Please help me. Or I’ll never get out of your bed.”

“Haa!?”

Erika was sitting on the floor, swaying from side to side and chanting, “I’m hungry~I’m hungry~”. She looked like one of those mascots sold in hundred-yen stores that shake from side to side when the sunlight hits them. Mascots are not this noisy, though.

“What about Mana and the others?”

I asked Erika-chan.

“They left me behind. Runa said she wanted to go buy some manga, so maybe they’re at the bookstore in front of the station?”

“I see…”

If there’s no one else to take care of Erika-chan, I’ll have to take care of her…

“Hey~Hey~I’m hungry. I want to eat cup ramen~”

Erika-chan swayed from side to side.

Erika-chan, who was swaying left and right on another person’s bed, chanting “I’m hungry~”, honestly looked very cute.

“Good grief…it can’t be helped. I’m going to go prepare it now, just wait a minute.”

“Alright~”

I reluctantly went to the kitchen and took out a cup of ramen from the cupboard. We always have a stock of cup ramen in the house. It’s a kind of emergency ration that I eat once in a while and buy more from time to time.

I put the cup of ramen on a tray and poured hot water from the kettle. After putting the lid on, I put the chopsticks on the tray and carried it to my room.

“Thanks for waiting~. Here, your cup of ramen.”

“Yay~”

Erika sat down on the bed and cheered happily.

I put the tray I had brought on the low table and said to Erika-chan

“However, I won’t allow you to eat on the bed. If you want to eat, first, get out of bed.”

Then Erika got off the bed reluctantly. Judging by the look of her, she must have been planning to eat in bed if I hadn’t said anything.

Erika-chan crawled over to the low table. She opened the lid of the cup of ramen and put on a happy face with chopsticks in her hand.

“Itadakimasu!” [TLN; if you don’t know what this means, you ain’t a true weeb”]

Erika’s cheerful voice.

Even among Mana’s friends, Erika-chan is not particularly good at etiquette, but even so she says ‘Itadakimasu’ properly. It should be obvious, but for a moment I was impressed.

However, I immediately frowned. Erika-chan…started to eat her cup of ramen with a very strange way of holding her chopsticks.

It was like a primitive man who had just learned to use tools. Her chopsticks were clenched together in her right hand and had no function of grasping anything. She was simply lifting the curly noodles from a cup of ramen, twisting them in a messy manner.

—What the heck!? What’s with this way of holding chopsticks!?

I shuddered as I watched Erika-chan eat.

I know that I am a detail-oriented person. I also know that people can live a normal life without worrying about such details.

However… I was a man who would not forgive something like ‘an empty toilet paper roll left on the holder’ or ‘a messy way of holding chopsticks’.

“You know…Erika-chan.”

“Eh? What?”

“I don’t think it’s right to go so far as to say this to my sister’s friend but… can I say something?”

“Yeah?”

Erika-chan was staring at me. I looked straight back at Erika-chan and appealed to her from the bottom of my heart.

“Do you think you can live with that way of holding your chopsticksssssss!?”

“Yes!?”

Erika-chan stared in amazement as I suddenly snapped at her. But I didn’t hesitate to grab her right hand.

“Hold the bottom chopstick between the base of your thumbs! Hold the upper chopstick between your thumb, index finger and middle finger! This is the correct way to hold chopsticks!”

I semi-forced Erika-chan to fix the way she held her chopsticks. Erika-chan, who now held the chopsticks correctly, looked at them with a frightened look on her face.

“Eh…? They’re shaking so hard though…?”

Indeed. The chopsticks were shaking like a newborn fawn.

“That’s because you’re not used to it. But this one is definitely more beautiful!”

As I assured her, Erika-chan suddenly became fidgety.

“Eh…? This, is beautiful?”

“Ah, it’s beautiful. Holding chopsticks in a messy way is only a disadvantage, so you should fix it now. Erika-chan is a beautiful girl, so I think it’s even more of a waste if you don’t.”

“Fuee!? B-beautiful!?”

Was it such a surprise for me to call her a beautiful girl… Erika-chan turned bright red and her mouth started flapping shut and open.

“Eh? Is it that surprising? Erika-chan is a beautiful girl, I’m sure many other people think that as well.”

“No no! No one’s ever told me that before!! You’ve never gone out with a girl before, so how can you say stuff like that so smoothly!!”

“Even though I’ve never gone out with a girl, I’d still say that. It’s the same as saying ‘that cat is cute’ or ‘the hero is cool’, Erika-chan is beautiful.”

“Aaaaaaa stop saying that!! I’m using chopsticks in a way I’m not used to, so let me concentrate!”

What did I say wrong? Erika-chan started eating her cup of ramen sullenly.

—Was it wrong if I said she was a beautiful girl?

Erika-chan is obviously a beautiful girl, so I don’t think there’s any other way to describe her.

I scratched my head and looked at Erika-chan.

Erika-chan was eating her cup of ramen with the correct way to hold the chopsticks, looking pouty but somehow looked adorable as she tried her best.

“Yeah. That’s a much better way to do it.”

I nodded in satisfaction, and Erika-chan’s eyes widened and her lips firmly pursed.

“Nn? What’s wrong?”

“Shut up! And don’t look at me!”

“Ehh!?”

This is my room, and I’m the one who brought you that cup of ramen…

I wanted to tell her that, but I stopped myself just before I could.

Erika-chan’s cheeks were tinged scarlet, and her eyes seemed to be a bit wet.

Was it because of the heat from the cup of noodles, or was it because she was not feeling well?

Either way, when I saw Erika-chan’s expression, I decided to forgive her for being so selfish today.