CH 24

A Couple of Lovebirds

TL: PuffyPyjamas.

ED: Daemon.

“The breeze… feels pleasant.”

As we were returning from Aki’s house, Charlotte, whose hair was fluttering with the night breeze, narrowed her eyes and spoke comfortably. Her gentle voice is extremely pleasant to the ear and makes you want to hear it forever. I was walking beside her, worried if she could hear my pounding heartbeat.

Aki and Emma were with us back then, so I didn’t have to be overly conscious of her. However, as we were walking by our lonesome at night, I was conscious of her. I can’t wake Emma up just because I want a distraction… If I were to do that, she would surely cry a lot.

“Yeah.”

I am so nervous right now that it’s taking my all just to give a simple reply. The silence of the night might be making me more conscious than when she was at my house yesterday. I can even feel her breathing clearly.

“…” 

When I replied, Charlotte glanced at my face for a moment. When I turned my gaze to her profile so that I could meet her eyes, her expression looked a little disappointed, and even a little lonely. Maybe my reply was a little too distant.

“Um… Today’s dinner was delicious.”

Believing that I had failed, I immediately tried to raise a topic that I assumed Charlotte would be happy with. Charlotte smiled delightfully and looked at my face.

“Thank you. I just helped Hanazawa-san today, but I’m happy that you think that it was delicious.”

“You don’t have to be so modest, Charlotte’s cooking was excellent as well. Was it a spinach quiche? It was fancy and delicious.”

Charlotte made something that would match with the hamburger. It was a type of French cuisine called a quiche, which was a meat pie almost similar to what could be called a baked cake.

Charlotte seems like a woman who can do anything because she can cook not only Japanese food but French food as well.

“Fufu~ Thank you. Actually, Emma always likes to eat spinach quiche with hamburger steak, so I asked Hanazawa-san if I could make it.”

“Is that so… Charlotte-san always prioritizes Emma, doesn’t she?”

Although merely two days have passed since we’ve met, it is easy to imagine how Charlotte treats Emma usually. In all probability, it would be no exaggeration to say that Emma is prioritized over everything.

However, it feels a little unusual even if they are close sisters.

It is not uncommon for a gentle sister to give priority to her cute younger sister. After all, I do come across sisters who give up their desserts to please their younger siblings.

Still, in the case of Charlotte, I feel like she is overly neglecting herself. I think she puts up with anything and everything and lets Emma do whatever she wants. 

You may think, who am I to judge Charlotte due to the fact that we’ve barely interacted, but I believe that Charlotte and Aki are somewhat similar. That’s why I wonder if Charlotte is holding back a little too much. Well, even if I were to tell her that, she would be too kind to admit it.

“Prioritize… is it…? I think it’s a bit different. I just don’t want her to feel lonely or sad.”

If you don’t call that prioritizing, then what would you call that? I really want to retort due to her denying without any consideration.

But, there was another far more important concern.

As far as I could understand, it seems that the gentle older sister is just thinking about her younger sister. However, the atmosphere of Charlotte who spoke the words was quite meaningful. I was hesitating on whether to delve any deeper.

I want to know more about her. However, I don’t want to wrongly prod at any points she might feel conscious about, and I don’t want to be disliked because of going too far.

I hesitated because I had such thoughts.

“—What is going on with the two lovebirds over there?”

““—!?””

Suddenly being called from behind, our bodies trembled simultaneously. Looking back in a hurry, there was Miyu-sensei who had just exited a convenience store.

When we were having dinner, I felt like there was something missing, and now I finally realized that it was Miyu-sensei. I felt a little refreshed as that thorn in my head was removed, but in my chest my heart was beating so fast that it seemed ready to burst.

“Good evening, Miyu-sensei. This might be sudden, but I have some questions for you, is that okay?”

I called out to Miyu-sensei while pretending to be calm so that my feelings would not be noticed by Charlotte. Miyu-sensei looked at me with eyes that seemed interested and a grin was plastered across her face, and it was kind of frustrating.

“What is it?”

“First of all, why are you in such a place? If we’re talking about your house, isn’t it in the completely opposite direction from school?”

Actually, there was something she said that I wanted to deny first, but I dropped it because I didn’t want Charlotte to think that I was too stubborn or too freaked out.

Miyu-sensei looks at my eyes with an expression that says ‘Your thoughts are on your face’, but I pretended to not notice it and ignored her.

“Well, don’t sweat the little things. More importantly, you two are getting along really well, aren’t you.”

“…” 

She told me to ask what was on my mind, but she completely ignored it… It must mean that it’s inconvenient for her. Well, I have a general idea of what happened at least.

…Leaving that aside, she really brought up a topic I didn’t want to discuss… I didn’t want to mention it, both due to not wanting the person on my mind to find out about my feelings, but also due to pure embarrassment. I wonder what Charlotte thinks?

I was wondering how she perceived the words said by Miyu-sensei, so I looked at Charlotte for a moment—but for some reason, she turned away.

Hey, why is she turning away? Maybe she didn’t want to be close to me so much that she turned away? Normally, I wouldn’t be driven by such anxiety, but being rejected by the person in question, is sure to make me anxious.

Then, for some reason, Miyu-sensei places her hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t mind it.”

—Huh!?

“W-what shouldn’t I be minding?”

I didn’t want it to show on my face, so I asked Miyu-sensei while keeping calm. If it weren’t for Charlotte, I would’ve surely given her a piece of my mind. 

“Well, don’t look so dejected. Don’t worry, it’s not what you think.”

“What are you talking about?”

The situation was too vague and I couldn’t really understand what Miyu-sensei was saying, so I tilted my head in confusion. Speaking of Miyu-sensei, for some reason, she is looking at Charlotte instead of me.

“You really are dense at times like these… Well, it might be interesting in its own way.”

“Can you please stop using me as a toy…?” 

“Well, well, it’s all good. More than that, you two walking together with Emma in your arms really do resemble a harmonious couple, don’t you?”

When I tried to raise complaints to Miyu-sensei who thinks of me like a toy, Miyu-sensei said something ridiculous in a voice that only I could hear.