Vol 1 Chapter 11 – Actions Taken Without Thinking【Volume 1: The Road to Romance】

When they stepped into the apartment building’s entrance lobby, Miki began looking around curiously, her eyes darting in every direction. It seemed this was her first time setting foot in this kind of building.

“…Onee-chan, Onee-chan.”

“What is it?”

“I’m getting all excited.”

“…Stop looking around like that. Don’t come crying to me if someone scolds you.”

“Who’s gonna scold us? Right now it looks like it’s just Miki and Onee-chan and Onii-chan here, right? And Onii-chan doesn’t really look mad or anything.”

Miki’s offhand observation hit the mark. Sandai wasn’t angry… or rather, it hadn’t even crossed his mind to be bothered.

This apartment building had an unspoken rule among its residents — mutual non-interference — so as long as no one was shouting, everyone simply looked the other way.

There was no one else in the entrance lobby at the moment, but even if there had been, a kid glancing curiously around wouldn’t draw a word from anyone.

So the very idea of being bothered by it simply hadn’t occurred to Sandai. There was no need to worry excessively about the other residents’ reactions, precisely because of that unspoken rule.

And yet — before Sandai could even explain that to Shino, she had already flicked Miki on the forehead with a pop.

“Onee-chan, what was that for~”

“Even if no one’s watching and no one’s upset, that doesn’t mean it’s okay to have bad manners.”

“Onee-chan, you’re way more uptight on the inside than you look… sigh… Guess the kiss-kiss is out of the question.”

“…The kiss-kiss… I’ll try my best, but…”

Sandai tilted his head at the two of them. What on earth are they talking about?

Not that he particularly felt like forcing his way into a conversation between sisters.

For now, Sandai let their exchange slide, and decided to belatedly explain to Shino why he hadn’t been bothered by Miki’s behavior in the first place.

Shino’s response, however, was: “Even so… that’s no reason to have bad manners.”

In terms of basic decorum, she wasn’t wrong — even if there were situations where it didn’t matter, as a question of morals, Shino’s point stood.

There was no arguing with that. Sandai shrugged and nodded. “Fair enough. You’re right.”

☆

They passed through the living room and made their way to the dining area. Shino wasted no time setting the rattan basket on the table and beginning to unpack its contents.

Out came a variety of baking tools.

So that’s why it was such a big basket, Sandai thought.

“There sure are a lot of things that go into making sweets.”

“Pretty much. And then there’s the oven.”

“An oven? Do I even have one…?”

“You do, you do. Remember when I cooked dinner here that one time? I noticed it then. Look, look — right here.”

Shino gave the box nearby a few light taps with her hand.

If Sandai remembered correctly, that was one of the appliances that had come pre-installed when he moved in.

He’d never had any reason to use it, and had been going about his life without the slightest idea what it was — so today, for the very first time, he learned that it was an oven.

Embarrassingly enough, when it came to the dining room and kitchen, Shino seemed to know the place better than Sandai, the man who actually lived there.

“So that was an oven…”

“You didn’t know…? …Well, I guess if you don’t cook, you’d never have a reason to use it, so I can’t really blame you.”

“…Then again, since I’ve never touched it, it’s basically brand new, right?”

“It’s not some antique — leaving things unused is just wasteful.”

They drifted through easy, unhurried conversation — the kind that, depending on how you looked at it, could almost pass for that of a couple.

And then, without either of them noticing, both of them suddenly realized that Miki was nowhere to be found.

A quick search turned her up in the living room, sprawled out on the sofa.

It seemed she had simply stayed behind when they passed through.

“Hey, Miki, we came here to make sweets today.”

“Miki is a specialist in the eating part…”

Miki had no intention of helping.

“Goodness…”

Shino’s lips formed a little pout as she drooped her head, cheeks puffed out with a soft puu.

It was an unbearably adorable gesture — and the instant Sandai saw it, without thinking, without realizing it, before he knew what he was doing, his hand was resting on Shino’s head, gently stroking her hair.

“Wha…? H-Hey…”

Shino’s eyes went wide at the sudden head pat — but a faint blush crept across her cheeks, and almost immediately she let her eyes fall softly shut, accepting it with a pleased little smile.

A strangely sweet air began to drift between them. Miki, who had apparently picked up on it, twitched her nose.

“We haven’t even had any sweets yet, and I’m already starting to feel full… Also, I’m pretty sure the kiss-kiss is gonna happen way sooner than expected.”