Mayuten ~The Demon King and the Hero Reincarnated as Twin Elementary School Students~

Chapter 8 The Hero Pours Barley Tea into a Cup

As I washed my hands and entered the living room, I found Higakure lying on the sofa, reading the newspaper. It seemed Akari was busy cooking in the adjacent kitchen. I wanted to read the newspaper too, but unlike the educational manga, there were too many kanji characters, and there were no furigana to help.

From the kitchen, we heard Akari’s voice call out, “Isumi, could you pour some barley tea into a cup?”

Upon hearing this, Isumi appeared bewildered, with a troubled expression on her face. While she knew that barley tea was a type of tea in this world, she probably didn’t know where it was stored in the house.

“Uhm, umm…”

Isumi seemed unable to move. I wanted to help, but I was clueless about where the barley tea was kept as well.

Then, Hikaru cheerfully said, “Hikaru will help too!” and rushed into the kitchen. Isumi followed her, and I stood up as well, concerned about them both.

“I’ll help too.”

But seriously, I’ve been imitating Hikaru this whole time. Relying on a young girl like this is quite embarrassing, but there’s no other choice in this situation.

When the three of us gathered in the kitchen to help, Akari looked at us with an exasperated expression.

“Oh my, you three get along so well. But having four people in the kitchen is cramped.”

Ignoring our mother’s words, Hikaru opened a white box in the corner of the kitchen. It seemed to be a pantry for storing food, like a refrigerator. There was also a bottle that appeared to contain barley tea.

“Here we go!”

Hikaru attempted to take out the bottle, but it seemed heavy for a young girl, and it looked quite precarious. I wanted to help, but before I could offer, isumi lifted the bottle of barley tea from Hikaru’s arms.

“Are you okay, Hikaru? Don’t push yourself.”

“Yeah, thank you, Isumi big sister!”

Hikaru innocently thanked Isumi, who responded with a slightly bashful expression, saying, “It’s not a big deal.”

Isumi’s bashful face is cute. Hikaru, doing her best to help, is adorable too.

“Oh my, thank you both. Kageyo, could you arrange the cups on the tray?”

Let’s see, a “tray” refers to the wooden board on the table, right? And the “cups” seem to be stored in that wooden shelf over there.

I reached for the cups from the shelf.

The hospital cups were made of some mysterious plastic material, but these were made of glass. What exquisite craftsmanship! The Demon King’s castle didn’t even have glass cups as clear as these. In our original world, they would have been considered so beautiful that they might be traded for gold coins. They would have been beyond the reach of ordinary children.

But in this world, such glasswork might not be considered a luxury. Even a five-year-old like Hikaru seemed to handle them without any issues, let alone an eleven-year-old.

Isumi poured barley tea into the transparent glass cups. When the brown tea filled the cups to the brim, they looked even more beautiful.

However, Hikaru said, “Ahh, we haven’t put ice in yet.”

Ice? I know that it’s a substance formed when water cools down and solidifies. In our original world, we could create it using ice magic. However, ice magic consumed much more magical power than fire magic and wasn’t very useful in battles, so it was rarely used.

Ignoring my confusion, Hikaru opened the door on top of the refrigerator and took out a small container. It was filled with several square-shaped ice cubes.

“I’m speechless…”

Well, I had seen it on the hospital TV.

A freezer, was it called? In this world, there are tools that can easily make ice.

But to think that even the humble Kamiya family has such a device to make ice.

Is this the power of “science”?

With trembling hands, I picked up one of the ice cubes.

No doubt about it. This was ice, and it was much clearer and colder than the ones made by the chefs in the Demon King’s castle.

Isumi also lifted an ice cube, exclaiming, “It’s cold.”

Startled by her own words, she dropped the ice cube on the floor.

Hikaru looked exasperated.

“Ugh, Isumi big sister, what are you doing?”

Hikaru picked up the fallen ice cube and casually tossed it into the sink, as if it were of no value whatsoever.