Chapter 6: The Dining Table Of The KishikamiHousehold

As an update for those waiting for a Bu ni Mi chapter, the first chapter is being translated but I couldn't finish it.

Hope to have it ready for tomorrow, in the meantime, here is another chapter of VRMMO.

As a clarification, I did start to use "ojisan" in this series compared to Bu ni Mi where I tried to avoid doing it. However, in this chapter, it was apparent that the dialogues didn't flow well with it so I'll proceed to change it to "uncle" and edit it in the other chapters.

Anyway, enjoy

After having recovered, I went to the living room on the first floor and the intercom rang.

Has Miyu already returned? Is what I thought but...oh, right.

I head towards the front door, turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door.

There, the person I was expecting to be there was standing there as if she was tired of waiting.

「I have returned, nii-san」

My little sister Rise went inside while showing me a charming smile.

She was about a head shorter than me, her hair color was lighter than mine and it waved in tandem with her movements.

Whenever she comes back home, she always smiles as if she was relieved.

「Welcome back Rise. The door was open, right? Why didn't you just come in by yourself?」

「Geez. Even though you already know why」

「You mean when you mentioned that I had to come to greet you, right? You sure get lonely easily」

「That's right. I get lonely whenever nii-san is not here...」

Rise proceed to place a hand behind her to lock the door.

However, Miyu is going to come back so it should be better to leave it open.

Miyu lives about five minutes from here, so it shouldn't take her long to go and come back.

So I said this to Rise as I pointed at the door.

「Rise, don't lock the door. Miyu is going to come back later」

When I said that, hearing my words, Rise's face stiffened.

After that, as if she was digesting my words for several seconds, her eyes were wandering for a while...

Rise locked both of the locks and even hung up the chain, then smiled at me.

Eh!?

「Why are you locking the door!? I told you to leave it open, right!?」

「I'm sorry, I heard wrong. More importantly, nii-san, weren't you in the middle of some domestic chores? I'll open it, so go first」

「...Got it」

Even if Rise is lying and she doesn't leave the door open, if it's locked, Miyu will probably ring the intercom.

Since I'll be on the first floor, there's no way that I won't hear it, so there shouldn't be any problem.

I left Rise at the entrance and headed into the kitchen, then I proceeded to start making preparations for dinner.

Today's menu is beef stew.

We got a big amount of french bread from an acquaintance so I was thinking about eating it together with that.

As a Japanese, I could also make rice, but if we are talking about stew, bread goes better with it.

Luckily, before Miyu came, I had already made the initial preparations.

From around noon until 5pm, the ingredients had been pickled in red wine.

The contents were: beef, onions, carrots, a small amount of garlic and five types of bay leaves.

First I took the beef out, sprinkled it with some salt, pepper and wheat flour. Then I proceeded to stir fry it on a frying pan.

A fragrant smell spread throughout the kitchen...oh, I forgot to turn on the ventilation fan.

There we go.

「Should I help?」

When I turned around, Rise was standing there after having changed from her uniform to casual clothes.

As always, she was wearing my old clothes and they suited her really well.

Sometimes, they didn't seem like the same clothes that I once wore...she does look really feminine in them and it does save money so it really helps.

Since she had already put on an apron, guess I'll have her help out.

「Then, take the ingredients out of that pot and turn on the fire」

「OK. I should just take out the scum once it starts boiling, right?」

「Yup. Please do so」

「Got it」

Once the meat started to gain color, I took the vegetables that Rise had taken out and started frying them too.

Then I added tomato paste and added the beef with the vegetables to the pressure cooker.

Next, I should pour the red wine after Rise has taken the scum out but...

「Here, nii-san」

「Thanks」

Without having to hear anything, Rise placed the chinois on top of the pressure cooker.

I grabbed the pot while wearing kitchen mittens in both hands and poured the boiling wine on top of the chinois.

Once we were done using it, Rise soaked the chinois in water.

Yup, it's like I had four hands and I felt at ease.

I wiped the wine that had spilled.

Now I should turn on the pressure cooker...wait, why am I feeling something warm on my side?

「...H-hey, what's with you doing this so suddenly?」

「Ah, don't try to run away. Isn't it fine? We are done cooking, right?」

It's true that while the pressure cooker is working there's not much to do but...

The kitchen in our house is not very spacious.

If we lined up in front of the heater, our shoulders would naturally touch.

...That was the case, but there was no need to be so close to each other?

「...Ah, well...uh...well done...?」

「It tickles, nii-san. Ah, I'm so happy...」

While feeling embarrassed, I patted her head in a way that wouldn't mess up her hairstyle.

When I did so, Rise narrowed her eyes in delight as if she was a cat.

The only one around that can spoil her is me, so I don't think I have much of a choice, but well...

Considering she's already 15 years old, I'd like her to voluntarily get away from her brother a bit.

「Nii-san, where is Akeno-san...?」

Rise proceeded to ask me that question with upturned eyes.

Akeno is our mother.

Kishikami Akeno, she works as a nurse.

「Mom said that she had some urgent work and that she would be late. She probably won't be back until around midnight? I'll leave some dinner for her...that being said, how about you call her mom already? She will cry, you know?」

While I was talking, Rise placed her head even closer to me.

Rise and I are fellow children from parents that had remarried.

The only person that was blood-related to her was our dad and he died, it might be because she was lonely, but she stuck close to me.

Contrary to that, there's a distance with the mother that is usually away from home because of work.

It's not like they don't get along, but mom feels a bit lonely because of Rise's attitude.

「It's fine, it's like...a stubbornness of mine. Until one day I can call her mother in the truest sense of the word」

「Hmm? I don't really get it but...you mean that when that time comes, you'll properly call her mom?」

「Let's see...that would depend on nii-san...fufu」

「Depend on me? Why?」

Why is the way she refers to mom related to what I do? In the truest sense of the word?

...At that moment, a strange sound could be heard behind me.

I gently separated from Rise and turned towards the sound...the window of the living room?

It wasn't a familiar sound, I had an ominous feeling.

「I'll go take a look. I'll leave the timer of the pressure cooker to you, set it to 30 minutes」

「Ah, is it over already? Just ignore it.」

「What if it was a suspicious person? Mom left taking care of the house to me, I have a duty to protect it」

「Nii-san you meanie...」

I left managing the cooking to Rise and approached the window with the closed curtain.

Did a bird collide with it? However, it did make a weird sound as if something was sticking to it.

I opened the curtain to take a look outside and my eyes met with 「something」 in the darkness.

Bloodshot eyes were staring at me...

「Hii!?...Wait, Miyu!?」

Just when I thought about what it could be, I saw Miyu with both of her hands and face stuck to the window.

Her beauty was ruined!

If the people at school saw her like this, they would probably faint...?

Particularly the younger female students...

Since she had stopped sticking to the window after noticing me, I immediately opened the window.

「What do you think you are doing?」

「What about you!? Isn't it cruel of you to not come out even when I ring the intercom!? Or did that body press mess up with your brain!? When I told dad about it, he said that you'd forgive me if I prostrated on the floor so as an apolog-」

「Stop doing that! Wait, you said you rang the intercom? When?」

「Hmm? I've been doing it for five minutes? I rang it 16 times!」

「Too many, you idiot! Wait, I didn't hear the interc...Ah!」

「...Wataru?」

Because of Miyu's words, I left the living room in a hurry and checked if the intercom was turned on.

Ah, it's turned off as I had expected!

Since it was still on when I went to greet Rise, there can only be one culprit.

「Rise, did you...she's not there!?」

She got me!

There were no signs of Rise being there, only that of the pressure cooker with steam coming from it after having its settings changed.

Isn't this going too far for just a prank!?

「Sorry, Miyu! I'll open the door immediately so go back to the front door! I'll explain the situation to uncle Akifumi!」

「Hmm? I don't really get it, but you are not angry, right?」

「I'm not. In fact, I should be the one apologizing here...hah. That Rise...」

After that, I grabbed the neck of Rise, who had escaped to my room for some reason instead of her own room and went to earnestly apologize to uncle Akifumi.

To not let them in after I had invited them, I can only say that it was a really rude thing to do.

「Well, she's at a quite delicate age. Don't scold Rise-chan that much Wataru-kun. Uncle doesn't really mind」

「Sorry! I'm really sorry!」

「Yay! I love uncle」

「Rise! What's with that attitude! You, is that the attitude of someone apologizing!?」

「Hahaha. You have it hard, Wataru-kun」

「Uncle Akifumi...」

He looked happy, smiled at us and accepted our apology.

At first glance, he looked like a slim and kind man with black hair that made him seem young but...

「With that being said, I'm counting on you to take care of Miyu. If I leave her in your care, I'll be relieved」

「Uncle Akifumi!?」

「Umu, it's like dad said! It'd be a relief!」

「「Wahahaha!」」

「...Right...」

I guess you can guess from how synchronized their laughs were, but uncle's personality is about the same as Miyu.

His occupation is the head chief of the sales department in a pharmaceutical company.

People refer to him with 「Mr」 within the company, it might be because the job asks a lot of him, but when he's outside work, he was quite sloppy.

He likes playing golf on his days off so he tends to be absent from home, that's why the times he came over together with Miyu were not many.

I made both of them wait in the living room.

After some time, I gave the beef stew its finishing touches.

In the meantime, I had Rise prepare the potatoes and broccoli that would be used as a garnish.

Then I placed the frying pan that was still a bit hot on top of the dining table, with this, dinner was ready.

When she saw the beef stew that was still producing steam, Miyu leaned forward and made a face that looked as if she was on the verge of starting to droll.

That's bad manners.

「oohhh! Can we eat it? Can we really eat it!?」

「Don't be so hasty, though as the one that cooked it, it makes me happy. I'll finish placing the plates, so wait」

「...So vulgar」

Muttered Rise in a low voice.

However, she made an expression that clearly displayed that she had said that.

Naturally, being fed up with that kind of abusive language, Miyu's beautiful eyebrows stood up.

「Ah? Did you say something, midget?」

「Hah? Just because your figure is a bit good, don't get so full of yourself. It's unpleasant」

...When these two are together, it's usually like this.

Since I and uncle are already used to it, there wasn't much of a reaction.

Once they start eating they will stop quarreling, so I don't think there's anything to worry about.

「Uncle, here's some wine. There's some in the stew, but that's another matter」

「You are so attentive to things like this. Then, guess uncle might drink quite a bit today...」

As we started to eat, they stopped fighting.

Yup, this is fine.

The way we arranged seats was with Rise next to me, Miyu in front and uncle diagonally opposite to me.

Each one of us joined both hands together and proceed to take simultaneously some of the beef stew with a spoon.

「Hmm, delicious. The moderate sourness, the sweetness of the vegetables and this rich fragrance...it won't lose to the one they made in the western restaurant I was invited to last week, Wataru-kun」

「Thank you very much. However, compared to the highly rated restaurant you went to...where they cook them for a week until it's done, there's no comparison. Especially when it comes down to stews」

「Haha, you are so humble. If only a normal family's level of cooking was like this...right, Miyu?」

「Nugu?」

「It's fine, you don't have to say anything. Look, Wataru-kun. Look at how immersed Miyu is. To have such a childhood friend, my daughter is really fortunate」

「Nugu!」

「A-ah, thanks...」

I believe she's like that no matter what she eats though...oh well.

The beef stew was quite popular.

Other than the portion I had left for mom, the frying pan was cleaned up so as the one that had cooked it, I felt satisfied.

As uncle Akifumi had said, he drank an entire bottle of wine and went back home with Miyu while they both looked satisfied.