Azusa was looking at me with a piercing gaze.
“Onii-chan, I think you should talk things out properly. Otherwise, you’ll end up misunderstanding each other.”
The words that came from her youthful face were surprisingly weighty, not fitting her appearance at all.
Given that she had experienced something similar, her words carried a lot of weight.
“Y-yeah. Sorry…”
I apologized reflexively, but I knew that Azusa wasn’t actually seeking an apology from me.
“If you’re going to apologize, do it to Shimotsuki-san. Now, I’m going to the supermarket a bit far away for some shopping… so, please, don’t evade the issue or pretend not to notice, okay?”
…This is unusual.
Azusa rarely took such a strong stance. Usually, she’s a bit of an indoor person, a little spoiled, but it was rare for her to exert such pressure.
It must mean she has strong feelings about the relationship between Shiho and me. It was also surprising to see that Azusa was thinking about Shiho so seriously.
“Azu-nyan… you care that much about your onee-chan. I’m happy.”
Shiho said, her eyes slightly tearing up.
Azusa, perhaps embarrassed by those words, stood up abruptly.
“I-it’s not like that… Anyway, I’m going now. I’ll get some ingredients for dinner.”
“Thank you. But I was thinking of making stir-fried vegetables today, so we already have the ingredients.”
“Okay, got it. I’ll get some meat then, because tonight we’re having steak!”
Without understanding anything, Azusa left. Stir-fried vegetables are delicious… but, well, tonight, let’s go with her suggestion and have steak.
She was being considerate, and I wanted to do something nice for her in return.
“”…””
Now that we were alone, I felt strangely nervous, even though it had become more common for us to be alone together recently.
“Umm.”
“Uh…”
We spoke at the same time.
“”Go ahead.””
We both deferred at the same time, which was oddly funny.
“Hehe… Kotaro-kun, there’s no need to be nervous.”
“No, no, Shiho, you seem nervous too.”
“Well, I guess we’re both in the same boat, huh?”
As we exchanged these words, the tension naturally melted away.
After all, we weren’t going to have a heavy conversation. There was no need to be tense.
Just as usual.
Being natural was enough.
“I’ve completely adopted Kotaro-kun’s rhythm.”
“Huh? Rhythm?”
“Recently, I’ve noticed… my timing when speaking, my way of interjecting, my gestures… I’ve started mimicking you.”
Hearing that made me feel happy but also a bit embarrassed.
“They say couples often pick up each other’s habits… I guess it’s something like that.”
Even though we’re not dating yet.
To the extent that she mimicked my gestures, it showed how much she thought about me.
Realizing that, I felt Shiho’s affection and it made me very happy.
