The kitchen knife clacked with a soothing rhythm.
I sat down on the sofa and looked at the kitchen, thinking about the dinner to come.
Shouhei was humming and Aoi was staring at the vegetables with a serious face.
Come on! Do your best! I’m hungry!
“Nyanyamaru nya!”
“Dah!”
Jaja was by my feet, who was waddling around with her butt on the baby mat, and Nana, who was sitting on Rouge’s lap while Rouge was singing a song.
“Pongorou is here too.”
“Ada! Uda!”
Jaja happily sang along as Rouge sang along to the children’s program on the TV.
Even as Rouge swayed her body to the music, her face was still the same as always.
Recently, I’ve come to understand that Rouge’s emotions are expressed more on her body than on her face.
I guess she’s happy to have Jaja and Nana with her. Her stiff-looking tail was flicking and swaying just above the floor.
If you look closely, you can see a slight blush on her face.
I’m glad you’re having fun.
What Jaja and the others are watching now is a children’s show for infants, a must for the Kazamachi family these days, it’s a cartoon-character costume show that both Jaja and Nana love.
The characters are Nyanyamaru, a stuffed cat, and Pongorou, a stuffed tanuki. Orko-chan, a dolphin mermaid costume, and Takeru-kun, a human child.
The program, in which the four of them go on for about ten minutes, is now taking up most of the space on our recorder.
Whenever Jaja and Nana start to get a little restless, I play this program to distract them, which is a little dirty.
Because they are both crazy about it.
It’s a thirty-minute show, and the character costume play is only the first half. For the other 20 minutes, an older sister and older brother sing children’s songs and perform little skits. They do this every day, so Jaja and Nana never seem to get bored.
The song Rouge is singing now is the opening song, and the whole Kazamachi family can sing it. Of course, I can too.
That’s because I’ve seen it so many times.
“Takeru-kun and Orko-chan are both good friends, look Nana.”
“Au?”
Nana, who was suddenly called, looked over at Rouge curiously.
Oh, are you not interested today?
“Dah! Bah! Udah!”
On the other hand, your sister is so excited that she looks like she’s about to stand up.
I’d be surprised if she actually stood up though.
“Kunpei, Nana seems to be sleepy.”
“Hmm?”
Ah, look at her eyes, they’re almost closed. That means Jaja will also go to sleep when this show is over.
“Hey, Aoi. Nana looks sleepy.”
I called out to the kitchen, and Aoi, wearing an apron the same color as her hair, looked up.
“Okay. I’ll just quickly go feed her, okay, Shouhei-san?”
“Un, it’s almost done, so it’s okay.”
“Thank you very much. Nana, I’m coming!”
Aoi took off her apron and folded it and rushed over to the sofa.
“Come, sit over here. Dad will be home soon.”
“Yes, thank you, Kunpei-san. Sorry to keep you waiting Nana.”
Daee.
I picked up Nana, who was reaching for Aoi on Rouge’s lap, and sat her down next to me.
Now, feeding her at night before she goes to bed is still a joint effort between the two of us, but other than that, I don’t have much to do.
So I’ll go help Shouhei.
I got up from the couch substituting Aoi and headed for the kitchen.
“What’s left to do?”
“Plates.”
“Got it.”
I walked behind Shouhei, who was holding the vegetables in a salad bowl without looking at me, and stood in front of the stove. The pot on the fire smelled delicious.
Whoa. Beef stew today, chef! I can’t wait!
“Oh, is this the right plate?”
I took out five deep round plates from the cupboard behind him.
“Yes. Here’s a ladle.”
“Okay, here they are.”
I took the ladle that Shouhei handed me and placed the plates in the space next to the sink.
I opened the lid of the pot and stirred it with the ladle.
It looks so good.
That’s our chef and his apprentice.
I stirred the pot with the ladle and picked up a plate.
I ladled a scoop of the stew onto the plate and placed it on the counter.
“Rouge, sorry, but could you please help me bring it to the table?”
“Hmm. Okay, Jaja’s over here.”
Rouge, who was sitting under the sofa, nodded and gently picked up Jaja, who was sitting next to her, and sat her down next to Aoi on the sofa.
Her eyes were still glued to the TV as she cackled in laughter.
“Jaja loves pongorou, doesn’t she?
“Dah!”
When Aoi spoke to Jaja with Nana in her arms, Jaja cheerfully replied.
It’s true, isn’t it?
It’s true that Jaja is obsessed with Pongoro, who is a stocky little tanuki.
Every time he appears on the screen, she looks happy and excited.
I’m a little jealous. He’s always up to mischief, you know?
As a dad, I don’t think I can accept someone like that.
“Kunpei, this?”
“Ah, yeah, that’s it. I’ll bring out the tray now.”
Before I knew it, Rouge had come to the kitchen and was speaking to me over the counter.
That’s not good, I was about to turn black with jealousy.
I really don’t know what I need to be upset about with a cartoon character.
I opened the door under the sink, took out a tray, put it on the counter and put the plate on top.
“Hmm, it looks good. Everything I’ve eaten since I’ve come to this house has been delicious and I’m really happy. Earth dragons only eats grass, rocks and raw meat.”
“Aoi was the same way. Why are dragons so indifferent about food?”
They have horns and tails, and Aoi has wings, but other than that, they don’t look that different from us humans, but when it comes to food, they’re very rough with it.
Before coming to this house, Aoi used to eat the monsters in Tusk Crag dungeon by cooking them with lightning, and what Rouge just said is also inexcusable.
“Hmm. I don’t know if it’s because we dragons are long-lived, but we’re pretty rough around the edges. I think most of us think that as long as we can eat and be full, we’re good.”
I don’t know if I should use the word ‘rough’ to describe it.
With a tray of three plates, that was no longer able to hold any more, Rouge made her way to the table.
“I’m home.”
Dad’s voice came from the doorway.
“Oh. Dad’s home. Right on time.”
“Ah, nii-chan, please take this too.”
Without waiting for my reply, Shouhei’s slippers flapped as he ran to the door.
“He really looks like a new wife, doesn’t he?”
He probably went to pick up dad’s bag and suit.
I’m a little worried about you, Shouhei-kun.
“Oh, Rouge, he said this too.”
I called out to Rouge, who had finished carrying the tray to the table, and placed the salad bowl Shouhei had left on the counter.
“Mhm, got it.”
She nodded and came back with after unloading the plates from the tray.
“Ah! Dah! Uwa!”
Before I knew it, the children’s program had progressed to the part where they were singing the nursery rhymes.
While listening to the song, Jaja clapped her hands along.
Hmm! I think my daughter might be a genius with that sense of rhythm.
Nana usually sings the same way as Jaja, so I’m sure they’ll be great if they’re released as a twin idol duo.
But I won’t let that happen. We’ll have to wait until they’re older to do that!
“I’m back, everyone.”
My father came into the living room, grinning happily as he forcibly pulled off his tie, followed by Shouhei with his bag and suit.
“Welcome back, Dad.”
“Welcome home, Dad.”
“Welcome home, father-in-law.”
I, Rouge and Aoi each replied.
“Jaja, Nana, grandpa’s home. Oops, Aoi’s breastfeeding.”
When he got close to the sofa, he noticed that Aoi was holding Nana on her side.
He immediately changed directions and came to the kitchen.
I can only see Aoi’s back from here.
“Dah!”
Jaja replied cheerfully to him, even enough for Nana, as she was engrossed in her mother’s breasts.
“Ah, I’m home. I’m so tired. Shouhei, I can drink today, right?”
He could hear her voice but could not see her, but my father still made sure to call out to Jaja.
It’s the same for us.
Just because they’re babies doesn’t mean we can ignore them.
“Okay, with the meal?”
Shouhei answered as he hung the suit on the clothes rack next to the living room.
I guess we’re the only family in that gets permission to drink alcohol from an elementary school student.
“Ah, thank you. Everyone, please listen up. Ah Aoi, you can listen from there.”
As he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, my father called us in a whisper, paying attention to Nana who was almost asleep.
What is it? What’s with all the formalities?
“Next week, Kunpei and Shouhei will start their summer vacation, right? So I thought we should at least take a quick trip, so I rented a cottage.”
Huh?
“Wait, wait, wait. A cottage? Where did you get that kind of money?”
“Dad… what are you talking about?”
“Shouhei stay. Calm down.”
The color suddenly disappeared from my brother’s face.
The change was so great that I panicked.
Oh no. He’s really upset about this.
Our Minister of Finance is not happy about this, Dad!
“Listen until the end, Sho. The cottage belongs to one of our clients, and it’s free of charge. But we’ll have to clean up in exchange.”
“If it’s free, it’s fine, if it’s free.”
Shouhei did a complete 180 and his smile turned into a refreshing one. It’s amazing how quickly his attitude changes.
“Well, the client’s family uses the cottage during the height of summer, and every year they have a hard time cleaning it. So in exchange for renting it to us, they want us to finish the tedious cleaning. What do you think? I can still say no right now.”
“Cleaning?”
Aoi twisted her head around to look at her father from the sofa.
It seems Nana was already asleep.
“I’ve seen the blueprints and it’s quite a big cottage. It’s going to be hard to clean.”
Oh, that makes sense.
To put it simply, it’s a pain in the ass to clean, right?
That’s why they’re letting us do it and renting us the cottage as payment.
“Where’s the cottage?”
“It’s about a two-hour drive from here. It’s in the mountains with a stream running through it. It’s a great place to escape the summer heat, right?”
Ah, that sounds nice.
Summer was in full swing, and the heat and humidity in this relatively high altitude town was getting to be quite intense.
I’d love to take Jaja and Nana outside to play, but the heat is enough to make even adults complain.
It’s not good for the babies’ health.
Our air-conditioned house is certainly comfortable, but it would be a pity to keep them inside all the time.
“I’m all for it. I want to let Jaja and Nana play.”
“I don’t mind either, as long as we come up with a reasonable budget.”
The cottage is free, but we’ll have to prepare our own food and drinks.
“I’d like to go, too.”
“The mountains is my domain, so leave it to me.”
What are you planning to do, Rouge?
“All right, it’s decided then. Ask Yunno-chan, Ichika-chan and the others. I’ll tell Yuri-san.”
“Got it. Man, how long has it been since we had a family vacation?”
We haven’t had the time since mom died.
For about seven or eight years, our summers were spent either at home or at the library.
When I think about it, I’m pretty excited.
“Okay, so we’ve decided that the first event of our summer vacation will be a two-night stay at the cottage in the forest! I’m looking forward to it. We also have to buy swimsuits for the twins.”
My father seemed to be having some kind of wild ideas, with sparkling eyes that didn’t suit his age.
“Dah! Daa! Uuwah!”
Jaja was also approaching the climax on her side.
<<Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter>>
