Idle Chat with Sleeping Beauty and the Witch’s Little Sister
“──So this thing happened, you see.”
The classroom during lunch break. Having finished explaining the situation, I peered at Shizuku’s face while nibbling on a curry bread.
“What do you think?”
“What do I think? What do you mean?”
Poking at her asparagus roll with her chopsticks, Shizuku wore an expression like someone who’d swallowed bitter powdered medicine without water.
“Put yourself in my shoes, having to listen to a classmate gush about her actual sister during my precious lunch break.”
“Jealous?”
“As if.”
“But you’re the only one I can talk to about this.”
The Charles lot were as busy as ever, and I felt awkward bringing a graduate’s worries to them.
Above all, Shizuku and I were in similar positions. Though I suppose I’m a fair bit further along.
“In short…”
Shizuku swallowed the asparagus roll and said.
“You want to be on equal footing with my sister, right?”
“Exactly.”
I nodded. Shizuku really gets to the point.
That’s it. I want to be equal with Shigure-san. I want to repay what I’ve received.
Otherwise, we can’t maintain our balance.
Shizuku narrowed her eyes and stared intently at her lunchbox.
“Well, I understand the feeling. It makes you anxious to keep receiving without giving back.”
“Yeah.”
“This is homemade by Sensei, too.”
With that, Shizuku lifted her lunchbox.
It was quite a lovely lunchbox. Bacon-wrapped asparagus, sliced boiled eggs. Broccoli and cherry tomatoes. Glistening simmered sardines, bite-sized potato salad.
Nothing particularly special, but you could tell she’d thought carefully about colour and nutrition.
“I told her I’d just grab something for lunch, but she says it’s not nutritionally balanced, so she makes me one every day. I’m happy, but honestly, I feel terribly guilty.”
Shizuku was currently living with her idolised “sensei”.
A woman seven years her senior, just like Shigure-san. Yomi Runa-san.
“Ah, I see.”
“I promised to do the housework, but in the end, Sensei does most of it. Even when I offer to help, she tells me to focus on my entrance exam prep.”
She picks up a cherry tomato with her chopsticks and crushes it between her front teeth.
“And yet, no matter what I ask, she gives me such thoughtful advice. She massages my hands and arms, and even attaches handwritten message cards with illustrations to my late-night snacks…!”
“You’re absolutely smothered with love, aren’t you?”
When I said that, she glared at me with an absolutely terrifying look.
After a few beats, she let out a long sigh.
“It’s not like that.”
“Is it?”
“She’s only being kind to me because I’m my sister’s little sister.”
Faced with that assertion, now it was my turn to be at a loss for how to react.
I mean, surely “because you’re her sister” can’t be the only reason.
So what’s the real story there, Yomi-san?
“That’s why. I’m happy, but there are parts of it… I can’t just be happy about.”
“Ah, I see.”
I’ve never heard it stated outright, but Shizuku looks up to Yomi-san.
Whether that’s romantic feelings or pure respect, I don’t know.
Or rather, I get the feeling Shizuku herself isn’t quite sure yet.
Either way, being treated kindly by someone you care for is lovely. Lovely, but it’s not enough.
Being loved unconditionally is a child’s privilege.
I want to be an adult.
Probably Shizuku too.
“What should we do, I wonder?”
The words both of us were swallowed back, but somehow I felt they had been understood anyway.
Shizuku murmurs softly.
“……The sensible thing is probably to wait quietly until the entrance exams are over.”
“I know, but.”
I washed down the last of my bread with coffee milk and glanced out the window.
Cumulus clouds floated in the bright blue sky.
The glaring sun heralded the arrival of a scorching season.
“But it’s summer. Summer holidays.”
“True. But I’ve got cram school. What about you? Intensive courses or something?”
“Well, I plan to go, but~”
Things had been sorted out with my family home, and for now, the tuition fees were taken care of.
Until recently, I’d been thinking of somehow managing with savings from my idol days, part-time work, and scholarships, but for now, at least, that worry was gone.
“But you must have a bit of free time, surely?”
“Well, enough for a breather, I suppose.”
“Haaah, I want to see her, Shigure-san, all worn out and leaning on me… preferably before summer’s over…”
“Hey, don’t bring up hellish topics like that right here.”
Shizuku looked genuinely displeased.
Her brow was furrowed.
“Honestly, stop it. Don’t make me imagine it.”
“But Shigure-san, she must be absolutely exhausted.”
Changing jobs, going freelance as a designer, and moving house on top of that.
There’s no way she isn’t tired.
That’s precisely why I want her to lean on me, but she never shows any weakness.
She absolutely refuses to utter even a single “I’m tired” in front of me.
Honestly, it feels like it’s less about age difference and more about sheer human capacity.
“Maybe I just don’t have enough capacity to be understanding, after all.”
As I sighed, Shizuku gave me a suspicious look. Her gaze was fixed just below my chin.
“With those breasts?”
“Eek, you pervert!”
“How tiresome.”
“Hey, do you think Shigure-san likes breasts? I think I do.”
“Seriously, what are you asking me about my own sister…?”
Sighing, Shizuku narrowed her eyes slightly.
“It’s not about you specifically. It’s about age and position… and also, she’s just bad at being dependent, that’s all.”
“Bad at being dependent.”
“Our parents both worked. She always looked after me. So I think she just never really learned how to depend on people.”
I kind of get it.
I never knew how to be dependent either. That’s why I pushed myself too hard and broke down once.
As long as you’re alive, rainy days are bound to come.
That’s why I think everyone needs an umbrella. Like Shigure-san was for me.
Precisely because of that.
I want to be Shigure-san’s umbrella too.
…But.
“Age gap relationships are tricky, aren’t they?”
“Don’t look to me for agreement. I’m not like that.”
“Fancy a double date sometime?”
Shizuku’s frown deepened.
She stuck out her tongue slightly and declared flatly.
“Absolutely not.”