Chapter 29 – Older Sister Situation

“So, what are you gonna do today?” asked Yuria.

We had just finished of eating breakfast and, as expected, we didn’t manage to eat everything. Fortunately it wasn’t much that remained, just a few sandwiches and fruits, so we could just store it for a snack later.

Currently we still were sitting on the table, just talking.

“Oh I forgot but I invited Yurika to our house today. We didn’t do much yesterday” said Rina enthusiastically.

“Of course not. I would be happy to have Yurika-chan here” said Yuria happily.

I honestly was relived that Yuria didn’t seemed to have anything bothering her anymore. That freed my time a little to shift my attention to my sisters and Yurika.

Yesterday while I was talking with Anna-nee and Rina during dinner they told me that Yurika was a little disappointed that I didn’t went to her home yesterday.

Apparently her father was very overprotective, not allowing her to have contact with any boys if possible. So she was enthusiastic when he reluctantly let her to be friends with me, her neighbor recently.

When I heard that I couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction. I could tell already That Yurika would grow up to be a beauty in the future, and if we interact more often I was sure that eventually I would be able to figure why I had strange sense of Déjà vu that I felt around her.

I couldn’t help but feel that it was very important for me to figure out what that feeling meant.

“I want to spend time with Yurika as well Rina, but don’t forget to finish your homework as well Rina” said Anna-nee.

“Geh, I-I know that onee-chan, it’s just...” tried to protest Rina, but in vain.

“Taka-chan, how much of her homework did Rina finished?” asked Anna-nee.

“I think she’s half way done” I said.

“Hey!” exclaimed Rina from my sudden betrayal.

“Then no more distractions for you Rina. After we are done, back to your room and start working” admonished Anna-nee.

“What?! No fair! I don’t want to be stuck in my room studying while you guys have a great time” exclaimed Rina.

An just like that, they started to bicker with each other, while I wisely stayed quiet.

Those kind of arguments would happen from time to time. No one can expect that two sisters of similar age would spend their entire life without fighting.

But they would eventually made up with each other. Despite their occasional quarrels, they still loved each other, and the fact those fights over those kind of small matters was a sign of that.

Rina would slack off if left unchecked, leaving most of her homework for the last minute, so Anna-nee would often fell the necessity to pay attention to her.

Even at this age Anna-nee was already a girl with a strong sense of responsibility, often giving priority to her school duties and policing me and Rina to make sure we weren’t doing anything that might jeopardize our grades and school life.

I could kinda understand why she end up in that club in the original storyline. Anyone would eventually a way to relieve the accumulated stress of constantly being responsible to monitor other people actions and being a model of behavior, specially if started at such young age and the surroundings came to just expect her to do so.

Thankfully things were different now.

*CLAP*

“OK girls, I think that’s enough” said Yuria in a tone a little strong than usual, clapping her hands strongly to draw their attention.

Anna-nee and Rina immediately stopped arguing, looking directly at Yuria. There was just a faint trace of apprehension on their expression, probably concerned that they might have angered Yuria.

It was an unnecessary concern though.

“I already said that I don’t want you guys fighting with each other so much” admonished Yuria.

“But mom...” protested Anna-nee.

“I know that you mean well Anna-nee, but you guys still have one month until school starts, so there’s no need for you to be so strict with Rina and yourself. Just relax a little, okay?” said Yuria, still admonishing but in a more soft and gentle tone.

Having nothing to say in return, Anna-nee simple bit her lips and stayed quiet. Rina, being the bad winner she was, just showed her tongue to Anna-nee, prompting the latter to direct at Rina a very ugly look.

Unfortunately it was too early for Rina to gloat.

“And Rina, since you already invited Yurika to come here today, tomorrow you will sit your butt in the desk in your room and spend the entire day doing your homework tomorrow” said Yuria.

“What!? But mom...”protested Rina.

“No buts. If you have something to say or try to slack off tomorrow, then I’m going to confiscate your mangas and phone for six months” warned Yuria in a very strong tone.

“!”

That declaration caused Rina to show a horrified expression to Yuria. Anna-nee on the looked to be pretty satisfied, with a lightly smug expression as well.

Usually Yuria was a very gentle mother, often spoiling as showed by the lavish breakfast she prepared, but recently there wee times when she would be very stern and strict as well, specially when one of us was going a little to far in our actions.

That side of her didn’t appeared yesterday because she mostly blamed herself for me to suddenly appear behind her and starting to hump her, but now that she was much more mentally stable the chances of me getting scotch free if I did something like that again were nonexistent.

Not unless we clarified what happened between us and how things would go from now on.

Part of her current behavior was actually my fault. It was the result of my intervention in the original storyline.

Around a year ago I noticed that, despite she trying her best to hide it, Anna-nee was starting showing signs accumulated tension. They were very subtly, a vacant expression over here, a small yawn over there. In normal circumstances I might have ignored, maybe thing that it was just a few isolated incidents, but knowing what I knew about the original plot involving her I was aware that eventually, if left untreated, she would go to that club.

Not much time later my old memories were completely back to me, making me realize right away what was wrong with her.

Anna-nee had the tendency of taking a great amount of responsibility, whether it was something that should be handled by her or not, which eventually led her to take upon herself to make sure I and Rina would be good students and behaved at home. She also felt the need to set an example of how to behave, being the older sister, resulting on her constantly policing her actions and always trying to do only the right thing, trying to take only the highest grades possible and participating in the student council at school.

So much responsibility would obviously took it’s toll on a girl so young.

As to what I did? I subtly brought Yuria’s attention to that fact.

It wasn’t like I just said to her that a little girl shouldn’t bring to herself so much responsibility, as there was a chance that it might sound like I was complaining and in that case Yuria might likely wouldn’t put too much weight in my words. Instead I said that like it was some kind of reflection, like I was just muttering for myself and didn’t expect anyone to actually hear me.

Despite what happened in the original storyline, Yuria was actually a very attentive mother. So when she heard my my accidental(not so much) comment, she managed to put two and two together, prompting her to take most of what was troubling Ann on to  herself.

Perhaps she had thoughts that since Anna was showing so much sense of responsibility there wasn’t a need for her to intervene in that front, but my comment immediately made her realize the real problem and deal with it accordingly.

The result: she became a more stern mother in certain aspects, being more vigilant to our behavior in many aspects. It might have being her responsibility from the beginning but as far as I’m aware, even the best parents would make mistakes sometimes.

I also took advantage of the opportunity to help her relax, half-forcing her to decelerate her pace when I sensed that she was starting to approach her limit of stress.

Thanks to that she continued to be generally the same person, but not so much over-loaded with responsibility. I was very certain that she wouldn’t go to that club anymore, but I still kept an eye on her.

Just in case.

*Ding*Dong*

“Ah she’s here, she’s here” said Rina.

Hearing the doorbell, Rina basically bolted to the door. Apparently she really was looking forward to Yurika’s visit.

To her antics Anna just sighed in exasperation, immediately walking behind her, and Yuria just smiled wryly at her direction.

‘I guess I should go there as well’

With that thought, I left the table and went to the door to receive our guest.