The World Becomes a World Where Chastity Is Reversed?! - 23

Chapter 23: Listening to Narumi-neesan’s Story

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

It was late at night.

“Uu… sniff… hic…”

“…Nnn…?”

I heard a noise, so I slowly woke up. If I remembered right, I had taken care of the utility bill payment in place of Nee-san, and after that I cooked dinner for her. And once I finished cooking dinner, I waited for her to come home, but she never came back… at some point, I must have fallen asleep with my head on the table. Then I heard that sound, which woke me up, and when I did…

“Sniff… hic… uu…”

“Hmm… nn…? Wait—eh!? N-Narumi-neesan!?”

“Sniff… hic…”

When I opened my eyes, I immediately noticed Narumi-neesan sitting at the table, quietly crying. I panicked and quickly called out to her.

“Wh-what’s wrong, Narumi-neesan!? Are you hurt somewhere? A-are you okay!? Should I call an ambulance!?”

“Sniff… hic… No… that’s not it… I… I’m such a useless onee-chan… I keep causing trouble for Haru-kun…everything is just so hard… uu… sniff…”

“Eh… huh!? W-What do you mean by that? If it’s okay, could you tell me everything…?”

“Yeah… sniff… hic… um…”

So I gently rubbed her back as she cried and listened to her in detail. And then…

◇◇◇◇

After a little while..

“I see…”

I had listened to all kinds of things from Narumi-neesan. How things at her job weren’t going well, how her seniors and junior coworkers bullied her, how she had become more and more distant from her friends because work was too busy, how she had no one she could talk to even though she wanted to… and then…

“I get that things have been really hard for you, but…You don’t need to think you’re causing me trouble or that it’s painful for me.”

“Uu… hic… sniff… Uu… Uu…”

Apparently she hated that she had caused so much trouble for me, her younger brother figure, and that was why she was crying. Honestly, it was the first time I had ever seen her so worn down, and it made me panic a little…

“S-sniff… I can’t do anything right at work, and my friends are all getting married and becoming happy, but I’m the only one who’s becoming more and more alone. U-uu… And I’m letting myself fall apart, and even causing trouble for Haru-kun… I’m really sorry, I’m so sorry, Haru-kun… I’m sorry for being such a useless onee-chan… Uu… hic…”

“Narumi-neesan…”

Tears streamed down her face as she said that to me. To me, Narumi-neesan had always been the kindest, most wonderful person—ever since we were kids, I had loved her more than anyone. There was no way I could just sit there and watch someone I loved this much fall apart in tears. So I gently rubbed her back and spoke to her.

“Yeah. Becoming an adult must be really hard. I know that from watching Mom too. But you know… You can’t keep everything bottled up when it hurts, okay?”

“Sniff… Uu… I’m sorry… but… I didn’t want to bother anyone…so I couldn’t say anything… and even then, I still ended up troubling you so much, Haru-kun… I’m really sorry… sniff…”

“No, it’s okay. Really. Because to me, Narumi-neesan will always be the person I respect the most. I’ve never once thought you were a burden, or disliked you. And I know how hard you work every day. Haha… so yeah. Narumi-neesan, you’ve been working so hard, and that’s really amazing.”

“Sniff… eh, Haru-kun…”

Hug…

As I said that, I gently hugged Narumi-neesan. It reminded me of long ago… When I was still in elementary school, and whenever I cried after Mom scolded me, Narumi-neesan always hugged me like this to comfort me. Back then, she always held me gently when I cried. So now it was my turn. The Narumi-neesan who had always been kind to me back then… now it was my turn to save her.

“Uh… H-Haru-kun…?”

“You’ve worked so hard every day, Narumi-neesan. And work was really tough, right? It hurts when your seniors and juniors bullied you, right? You’ve done so well surviving all of that on your own until today. You really are amazing.”

“H-Haru… kun… sniff sniff… Am I…Am I really amazing…?”

Pat pat…

“Yeah. You’re really, truly amazing. Even if there are people out there who speak badly of you… I will always be on your side. So…You can rely on me whenever you want. No matter what happens, I’ll always be your ally. So when it hurts, you can always let it out to me.”

“H-Haru-kun… uu… uuu… UWAAAAAH…!”

Tight hug…!

When I said that, Narumi-neesan clung to me with all her strength and burst into tears. Big drops of tears streamed down her face as she cried and told me..

“Uuuuh… Work… Work has been so hard… I kept getting yelled at every day… And I couldn’t go home until late at night…Everything hurt so much… And nobody would help me… uu… It was really hard… sniff… hic…”

“Yeah… yeah…”

“Hic… sniff… My seniors and boss are scary… The juniors always talk behind my back… I wanted to talk to someone but… All my friends got married and I can’t meet them easily anymore… sniff… I-I just… I didn’t know what to do anymore… Everything hurts… Haru-kun… It hurt so much… uu…”

“Yeah. You really did well getting through all that alone. But from now on, you don’t have to hold all that pain by yourself. I’ll take all of it. So today… Let’s let all of those painful feelings out right here, okay, Narumi-neesan?”

Pat pat…

“Yeah… yeah…! Sniff… Nothing at all has been going well… Everything hurts so much… Uuu… Uuu… UWAAAAAH…!”

And so I just held her gently and listened to every word she cried out.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー