Chapter 3

 Volume 1

Chapter 3

I hadn't seen my sister in three years, but looking at her, I think she had lost a lot of weight.

She used to be a thin person, but now she's more skinny than thin.

There are dark circles under her eyes and her hair looks really haggard… is she okay?

"Nee-san, are you eating well? You don't look so good…"

"Ta-kun… sniff… sniff… auwaaahhh… ahhhh…. sniff..."  

Nee-san kept crying.

She needs to eat properly. Instead of being happy to be able to see her again, we should eat first.

"Why don't we just go to a restaurant and have a beef bowl? I'm getting hungry too."

"Ta~ ka~ sui~ You can't have a beef bowl with such a pretty girl~ You should go to a more fashionable restaurant~!"

There she goes again…

"What are you talking about? If it's a first date, I'll choose the right restaurant, but if I'm going with my wife, it's a beef bowl restaurant, of course."

"W-Wife!?"

Because of what I said Natalie trembled in surprise and her eyes turned black and white.

"I want my good-natured wife Natalie to taste my favorite food…"

"J-Jeez~ if that's what Takasui wants~ I guess we can't help it~"

Natalie's face turned red because she was embarrassed at the random line I said.

She's so easy.

"T-Takyun… T-That person is…"

When my sister saw our unwilling flirting, she sniffed and spoke to me.

"Natalie, introduce yourself."

"Hello~! I'm Natalie The Fairy Pink star~! I'm married to Takasugi with the intention of having a baby~!" (raw name: ナタリー・ターフェアイト・ピンクスター)

As usual, there she goes again saying strange things.

Nee-san was dumbstruck because of what Natalie said.

"Calm down, nee-san. This idiot is my comrade in arms, and she followed me because she had nowhere else to go. I'll take care of her, so you can basically ignore her."

"Hey~ don't tell her to ignore me~ I want to be good friends with my sister-in-law~"

"S-Sister-in-law!?"

Nee-san shouted in surprise.

It seems that Natalie's strange behaviour is too much for my naive sister.

"N-No you can't! I will never allow you to marry Ta-kun!'

"Oh~? It seems there's already an obstacle between our marriage, Takasui~"

"'The higher the wall, the more my love burns... so let it be a high wall! Nee-san!"

"W-Wait Ta-kun! Why are you acting like that? You're not the kind of guy who makes jokes like that!"

Natalie and I laugh with each other after receiving nee-san's Tsukkomi.

It's fun for the person doing it, but it's not fun for the person getting involved. I stopped my foolish flirting and supported my confused sister. 

"Anyway, let's go out to eat now. I'll tell you more about it there."

"Ah...yeah... I get it…"

It's been a while since I had eaten anything other than ramen.

Because of that, I felt my mood lift.

•••

Natalie and I both ordered the same food with extra large portions.

My sister was watching the scene with a wry smile on her face.

"You're not going to get sick from eating that much, are you?

"Rather than that, Are you sure that's enough for you, Nee-san?"

Nee-san was holding a small portion of beef with her hand.

For me It's too small and she hasn't eaten half of it yet.

"Ah… yeah, I haven't eaten rice for a while, so even this is a bit much…"

"You can't do that, Nee-san. You need to eat l

More to feel better."

"I'm going to order a curry and a drink~ but what about you two~?

"I'll have a curry with pork cutler, what about you, Nee-san?"

"...I-I'm fine with water."

She started to move her chopsticks again, but then she suddenly stopped and started to panic, and said "...This is not the time to be eating a beef bowl!"

"W-what's your relationship with Natalie!?"

"We're friends."

"We're a couple."

"Please give me a serious answer…"

My sister said so with teary eyes, so I had no choice but to answer seriously.

"As I said before, Natalie and I are comrades-in-arms. She's here for sightseeing and she'll eventually go back to the army, so until then, be nice to her."

"Hey! wait a minute! I'm not going back to the army! I'm going to be in the same grave as Takusui!"

"Hey, that's what I want!!!"

"Please don't compete with her… Ta-kun…"

I look at my sister, who is still as cute as ever.

I don't know if you can call it being protective or what.

But the person who will marry my sister someday would definitely be bound to her.

"*Sigh* I'm not sure what's going betweens you two, but are you guys dating?"

"We're dating…?"

I haven't heard that sweet and sour word in a long time.

By the way, before I went to war, I used to be so excited about going out with people who didn't want to go out with me.

"Dating, huh? That sounds very nostalgic~"

"Right… makes me realize that the war is over..."

"We're going out… we're going out~ Fufu… I'm going out with you…"

My sister was puzzled by the way we looked and laughed at each other.

"Eh? D-Did I say something funny?"

"No, you didn't say anything funny."

"Jeez, then, what's with your response…?"

Ah– how can I explain it?

It's hard to put this feeling into words.

"Hmm… the place we were fighting in had a very high death rate, so it was not uncommon for the troops who went in to fight to be wiped out, and even those who miraculously survived died in suicide attacks the next day. It happened a lot."

"Eh…? U-Un, then…"

"That's why there's so much fear of death… Even if you try to escape reality with weed or drugs. Some people go even more crazy because they can't move normally because of it and they die..."

"....."

"Even the most mentally thick-headed people go crazy in that environment, so in order to stay sane, we would say anything we could think of that would make us want to live, like wanting to get married, have children, live and see their families again."

The curry I ordered was brought in, but I continued talking while pouring the curry into the beef bowl.

"'If I survived today, I'd have a happy future tomorrow…' I was forcibly inspired by dreaming such fantasies, so I didn't think about dreaming to the extent of datin–"

"Takasui~! I think it's a good time to stop or else your sister won't take it anymore~"

Natalie then pointed at my sister.

She looked like she was about to start crying again because of my story.

"Sniff… sniff… Ta-kun… you really... have it hard… sniff…" 

"S-Sorry, We shouldn't have been having this kind conversation…"

When I'm in front of my sister, I can't help but talk. I was careful not to give off a testy vibe.

I guess I'm not ready yet…

"Oh, by the way, are Mom and Dad working today?"

"Y-Yeah… wait…! Oh no! I forgot to tell them that you're already here Ta-kun!"

Then, my sister hurriedly operated her phone.

Her emotions changed immediately, that she's cute to watch.

"Is your mother understanding when it comes to international marriage, Takasui? If she disagrees with it, make sure to cover for me <3"

"It's just the start of a war between mother and daughter-in-law. good luck."

"I don't want to go on a war with her, please help me~"

I'm sure Natalie can handle it. Maybe?

Without thinking too much about it, I ate the rest of my beef bowl.

••••••