The Villainous Uncle in the Adult Game Gets Unusually High Praise from the Heroines - Chapter 24

“G-good morning.”

Sakurako-chan came down looking obviously sleep-deprived, with an expression full of guilt and apology.

I could easily guess what she was thinking. However, knowing that pursuing the matter would undoubtedly hurt her, I decided to simply respond with a “Good morning”, not mentioning anything else.

“Um, Take-san.”

“What is it?”

“…Well…”

After a long silence, she opened her mouth.

“I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“Ah.”

I was pretending not to know what she’d done in her room. So what I should say here was, “It’s fine, I was careless too. I should have checked if anyone was there before coming out. I’m the one who should apologize for showing you something you didn’t want to see.”

“That’s—no. Please don’t apologize. I should have made my presence more known.”

“Yeah, well. Let’s both stop apologizing here, okay? We could probably go on apologizing forever otherwise.”

“Y-yes.”

Despite saying this, Sakurako-chan maintained an apologetic expression, and her face remained dark until she left for school. 

Should I try to follow up when she returned home? Or should I wait for time to resolve things? …Probably the latter. I’d already said we should stop apologizing, and if I went back on that to do this or that for her, it would probably make her feel even more apologetic.

Well, continuing as usual, like always, was probably for the best. I’d try not to be too conscious of it.

After cleaning up the table, I went outside to take out the garbage. And there, I ran into her.

“Ah.”

“Oh?”

It was Aina Rindo-san herself. Besides garbage, she was carrying a bag in her hand. Perhaps she was heading to work? That would explain why she was wearing light makeup. She looked more beautiful than usual.

“G-good morning, Tendo-san.”

“Yes, good morning, Rindo-san.”

For now, we exchanged greetings. As expected, she seemed distant, with an awkward smile on her face. She was definitely conscious of yesterday’s events. However, I had already processed yesterday’s incident as finished business. I wouldn’t bring it up.

“Work?”

“Oh, yes. I’m heading to the office.”

“Good luck, then.”

“…Thank you, Tendo-san.”

She bowed deeply. I decided not to ask what the thanks was for. Somehow, it felt like having a conversation in a minefield.

Afterward, she returned to her house once, then left on her bicycle, and I watched her go. After confirming her back had completely disappeared from view, I heavily dropped my shoulders and retreated into my house. 

Sigh 

Despite it being morning, I felt tired already…