Chapter 27

よいっしょ（yoissho） (int, vs)(expression of) effort of strain; Yo-heave-ho!

“YOISSHOOOOO!”

Lately I’ve been getting the feeling that I’m getting a little chubby, so I decided to exercise each night. It’s a routine of push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. And at present, I’m currently tackling a 50-continuous-squats challenge.

“YOISHOOOOOO!”

It’s pretty tough. I folded my arms behind my head and tried following the diagram, but my legs started shaking in no time. But this is all a matter of spirit. Just a little more.

“YOISHOOOOOO!”

You can’t become beautiful overnight. It’s important that you build up your hard work every day. Now then, just three more!

“YOISHOOOOOO!”

*imouto*

Phew, I sure worked up a sweat. I got out of the bath just a while ago, but I’ll probably have a quick shower now too. Just as I left my room, I b.u.mped into Oniisama.

“Oh my, whatever is the matter, Oniisama?”

For some reason his expression seemed perplexed.

“Well, I think I heard some weird sounds just now.”

“Sounds?”

I didn’t hear a thing though. Ha-! Could it be a thief? It can’t be a ghost, right?

“Is this house haunted by a ghost?”

Oh gosh, so scary. Even though I’m terrible with ghost stories!

“What should we do, Oniisama? I wanted to go take a shower too. I hear that ghosts always appear in bathrooms.”

Even in horror films, it’s always in the shower room that serial killers attack. What do I do. Should I just bear with it and go without a shower tonight?”

“I don’t think so. I’ve never heard about a ghost in this house after all. Just relax and have your shower.”

“But~”

“I think the weird sounds were just my imagination. Sorry for scaring you.”

“Truly? If you say so, then I shall believe you.”

“Mn.”

Oniisama gave me a rea.s.suring smile, so I’ll trust him for now.

But maybe Oniisama is tired from all the exam preparation. His complexion seemed a bit pale. As his cute little sister, would it be better if I made a midnight snack for him? I’ve never done any cooking outside of home ec cla.s.s at school though. Well, I suppose things like this are more about the feelings of the cook. I’m sure Oniisama will be delighted. And as for midnight snacks, they’re generally onigiri or ramen? No, no, that’s too ill-matched with this family. But something too heavy at night is, you know~? Should I challenge myself to make zousui rice soup?

red snow crab zousui

Yeah, tomorrow I’ll make sure to talk to our maid about it.

As you’d expect, I was still pretty scared, so I slept with the light on that night. There weren’t any strange sounds.

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

We go on excursions every May. This year we’re going to an animal farm. Before I left, Okaasama warned me to properly cover myself with and reapply sunscreen as she handed it over. As for the farm, we’re going to be experiencing things like milking cows, or riding a horse, or rafting.

When we arrived, it was a place filled with nature, and the air was clean and fresh! I found myself taking in large breaths of it. Occasionally there was the stink of p.o.o.p though. When it came to the milking, the sheltered Ojousamas were afraid of the cow(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});217;s size, but I excitedly went first.

UOHHHH~ It’s warm!

When I finished, they even said stuff like “Reika-sama is so daring and brave.” and praised me. It’s fun, you know? There were also goats and sheep and rabbits, and was really peaceful. I decided I was going to try out every bit of it.

R-, Rabbits are so cute. I wanna keep one!

The rabbits are tempting me with their round eyes, and I seriously wanna take them home with me.

While I fed the carefree goats with feed, I heard cheers from afar. Wondering what was happening, I looked over to see the dashing figures of Kaburagi and Enjou on horseback.

Perhaps they had experience because both of them were bold and undaunted. They truly looked like princes on white horses. (The horses weren’t white though.) The girls made a huge fuss. It seemed like a number of other students had horseback experience as well, but unfortunately they were completely overshadowed.

“Kaburagi-sama, so dreamy&h.e.l.lip;”

“Like a real prince.”

“Kyaa! Enjou-sama looked this way!”

There were even girls waving at them. Of course they didn’t wave back though. Even so, seeing these new sides of them, all the fan girls were in really good moods. Even the normally poker-faced Kaburagi would occasionally talk to the horse with a smile. To my great shame, even I felt my heart skip a beat when I saw that. No good, no good. Animal Magic, how fearsome.

Because everybody spent the morning frolicking with the animals, when meat was brought out for lunch, everybody had difficult expressions. The cold milk that we squeezed was yummy though.

After that, we spent the afternoon rafting and hiking, and thanks to moving about the whole day, everybody was fast asleep on the bus back. Because of the spray from the river, my trademark curls are a little frazzled.

I can’t get up anymore&h.e.l.lip; I just pray that I don’t drool.

*imouto*

*imouto*

But still, that Kaburagi kid and Enjou sure looked cool on horseback. I’ve also had some experience sitting on a horse as it was pulled along, but I’ll bet riding by yourself like that is much more fun. When I asked, I found out that Oniisama used to learn horseback riding as well. Because he’s in the kyudo club, apparently he also did horseback archery. What the heck! I had no idea! Even though I’d definitely love to see his gallant horseback archery!

As I was thinking how great it’d be if I could learn too, I tried asking Okaasama, but she said that it would be terrible if girls hurt themselves, and refused. Hm~mm, what a shame. I’ve even heard that horse riding was good for dieting.