Vol 2 Chapter 4 – The Three of Them【Vol 2 — Youth in the Midst of Calamity】

A dark, dark shadow was there.

Seized by the sensation of having my consciousness dredged up from the abyss, I came to and found myself standing in that place.

I looked around. A bottomless darkness stretched in every direction, and beyond that — nothing. Nothing at all. And yet, at the far end of that bleak and endless black, there was a shadow.

Everything in my field of vision should have been darkness, and yet I could tell that the shadow was there. I didn’t know why, but I knew that much.

The shadow stared at my body as it sank into the dark. An indescribable pressure tightened around my chest, stealing the air from my lungs.

What was I supposed to do?

I’m not sure how much time passed.

Then, in the middle of that pitch-black space, I suddenly felt a light impact from behind. The sensation of being gently pushed forward, like a hand on my back.

I was swallowed by the shadow————

○

“————Onii-chan, it’s morning!”

An awakening unlike any other. A bright, young voice pierced my ears, and I slowly came to. When I opened my eyes, Elena’s face was peering down at me — upside down.

The moment she noticed I was awake, she let out a soft little breath and broke into a radiant smile.

“…Oh. Morning, Elena.”

“Yeah, morning, Onii-chan!”

○

“Ah, Onii-chan, your change of clothes is over here.”

I threw off my comforter, climbed out of bed, stifled a yawn behind my palm, and reached for the dresser drawer. The same routine, the same motion, performed every single morning without thinking.

But that ritual was interrupted by my little sister’s voice.

I turned around to find Elena standing there, holding my change of clothes.

“Oh… thanks.”

My head still wasn’t fully awake, so I accepted this irregularity without much thought.

I took the clothes from Elena and, without a second thought, started to pull off my pajama top to change. But right then, my eyes met Elena’s.

Elena gave her head a little tilt.

“Um, Elena.”

“Mm, what is it, Onii-chan?”

“Onii-chan is about to change his clothes…”

“Yeah, hurry up and get changed so we can eat breakfast! Elena made it!”

“Oh, uh… sure…”

She answered that with zero hesitation, and I lost all ability to respond.

…W-well, it’s not like it really matters if she watches.

I told myself that quietly in my head and changed into the clothes Elena had handed me. While doing so, I happened to notice something off about the room.

“Huh… isn’t my room somehow cleaner than before…?”

It had always been a sparse space without much room to get messy in the first place, but there was still an undeniable freshness about it compared to yesterday.

“Ah, yeah! You noticed?”

“Wait, did you do this, Elena?”

“Yep! I did it last night while you were sleeping. I was really careful and super quiet so I wouldn’t disturb your sleep — don’t worry!”

“————”

What do you mean, don’t worry.

I couldn’t get those words out.

For some reason, a bead of cold sweat trickled down my cheek.

“Th-thanks, Elena.”

“Sure, Onii-chan!”

Faced with that pure, guileless, beaming smile, that was all I could say.

○

“Wait, Elena… you could cook this well…?”

I stared blankly at the spread of food laid out on the table. The breakfast sitting there was several steps more elaborate than what our mother Alicia usually made.

As a rule, breakfast is the kind of thing you just throw together quickly without much fuss. At least, that had been the case at my home back in Japan. And that habit hadn’t changed even after coming to this world.

“Actually, I’ve been having Mama teach me cooking and laundry and stuff for a while now! So today I got a little carried away. Impressive, right? Oh, and starting today it’ll just be the two of us living together, Onii-chan, so don’t worry!”

That her words weren’t an exaggeration was clear from the quality of the breakfast in front of me. Apparently my little sister was incredibly diligent — the type who’d make a wonderful wife someday.

Still, wasn’t this a bit much…?

That was my first thought at the sheer extravagance of the breakfast, but that extravagance was proof of how hard Elena had worked. As her brother, there was really only one thing to say here.

“Wow, this is seriously impressive. Thanks, Elena. Onii-chan is genuinely surprised.”

“Are you happy?”

“Yeah. Really happy.”

The moment I said that, Elena let out a joyful squeal and threw herself at me. When I patted her on the head, the happy sounds only got louder.

Well, going overboard was just Elena’s thing. A fine quality in its own right. But going too hard on herself probably wasn’t good either, so I’d find a casual way to mention that at some point.

As the morning played out differently from usual, that’s what I thought.

○

Starting today, life alone with my little sister.

Saying it like that made something vaguely scandalous bubble up in my chest — but that was probably just because I was hopelessly, irredeemably male.

Somehow, without meaning to, it seemed I had stumbled into one of the most archetypal situations of the harem light novel protagonist lifestyle.

It had started a few days ago, when our parents dropped a certain bombshell on me and Elena.

“We’re gonna head into town for a bit.”

Well, not literally those words.

But stripped of the differences in detail, the gist of it was about that.

Our parents were on close terms with the lord who governed this whole area — what of it — and for reasons involving the very adult sort of circumstances that came with that, Mom and Dad had to go into the city for a while. And on top of that, Sophia — being that lord’s daughter — would also be heading to the city. That wasn’t unrelated to any of the above.

The details hadn’t been shared with us, since we were still kids as far as anyone was concerned, but it didn’t much matter.

The real issue wasn’t losing access to Sophia Onee-chan for a while. It was living alone with my little sister.

Mom and Dad had entrusted me with taking care of Elena — but honestly, after this morning’s breakfast, the powerless older brother had to wonder if it wasn’t the other way around.

○

Day three of living with Elena. Afternoon.

I was starting to settle into this arrangement.

“Getting kind of chilly lately, isn’t it.”

I was stretched out on the leather sofa, absorbed in a book, when the thought slipped out of me.

By whatever twist of fate, the seasons in this world where I was reborn came and went in a way that felt almost identical to what I’d known in Japan. And right now, it was late autumn.

The kind of day when the first snow wouldn’t be surprising anymore.

Elena, who had apparently caught that with sharp ears from the direction of the kitchen, came pattering over.

“Is Onii-chan cold? Should Elena make it a little warmer?”

She glanced at the red object in the center of the room. That red object was this world’s version of a heating device, powered by mana. A magical heating appliance.

Elena moved to hold her palm toward it.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t want to use up your mana, and honestly, I only just noticed — I’m not that cold yet.”

“Really? If Onii-chan says so, Elena is fine with that, but seriously, don’t hold back, okay? Elena doesn’t mind at all.”

“Yeah, thanks, Elena.”

“Ehehe…”

I reached up from the sofa and patted her on the head.

This scene looks really bad for me, doesn’t it…

“Ah, Onii-chan! Elena’s cookies should be just about done, so Elena will go get them!”

And off she went, pattering back to the kitchen.

Honestly, she was such a perfect little sister it started to make me embarrassed for myself.

○

Day six of living with Elena. Midday.

Having been cooped up inside with Elena for days on end, I had started to crave some fresh air, so I decided to go out for a walk.

I stopped by Elena’s room to ask if she wanted to come along, but all I got was a baffling “just a little longer,” and it was clear she had no intention of joining me.

This had never once happened in all the time since Elena was born, and I wouldn’t deny that it hit me with considerable force. So the rebellious phase had finally arrived, I thought, trembling dramatically — and then stepped outside and trembled again, for real this time, in the bitter gust of cold wind.

I was half-tempted to just turn back around, but the outdoor air, cold as it was, had a sense of openness to it that felt genuinely good.

I decided to carry on and headed toward the center of the village. Sure enough, probably because of the cold, there seemed to be fewer people out than usual.

And yet, in the middle of all that, I spotted a single figure running toward me.

“Will!”

There she was — Aria, my childhood friend, blue hair swaying, with the biggest smile on her face.