Chapter 94

EPISODE 4 LET’S LEAD NORMAL LIVES FOR NOW! The next day was exceedingly normal. Ryouta went to school as usual (with the collar around his neck), made a slip of the tongue by saying, “Hey, did you shrink? Are you done growing?” to Shiren, then writhed in pain on the floor when she poked his eyes, accidentally saw up Sasara’s skirt while he was writhing around, and almost got killed… An all-around average day for him. There were a few things that were a little different, though. Like how Kiyomizu was absent, how Alfoncina seemed sleepier than usual, and how Tamaki ate ten jam rolls for lunch—but everything else was mostly normal. Ryouta and Shiren ate the jam rolls that Tamaki couldn’t finish. After school, they went to Freshmart Warakia and bought supplies for dinner, then headed home. Ryouta made dinner—omelet over rice with plenty of tomatoes. Afterward, Rei came over to help Shiren with science. “Okay, um, rocks don’t photosynthesize! Low atmospheric pressure and photosynthesis are unrelated! The North Star and photosynthesis are unrelated! We add mint to ice cream to make it taste and look better, not to increase the umami flavor using photosynthesis!” “What?! I answered photosynthesis for every question, and not one of them was right?!” “You don’t need to use that technique right now! You need to focus on ehem at first! Ehem! Ehem! If you can grasp ehem, then you can put it to practical use!” She was choking, so it was hard to understand, but it seemed like she was trying to say that the most important thing was grasping the basics. “Anyway, this is way too sloppy, even for random guessing. You won’t get any points if the questions are true or false and you write in the letters A through E!” “Oh no! I didn’t read the question!” Ryouta sat to the side reading manga, thinking about how this, too, was the same as always. His grades weren’t the best in his class, but he certainly didn’t need this level of review. “Oh yeah, the results of the mock test I took before should have come back by now. How did I do?” Shiren had, apparently, rashly taken on a mock exam. “Ah, ehem, ehem… They did come back, but they were so awful I didn’t show you…” “Yeah, but we also had exams for kind of low-level schools, so I should’ve gotten a D or C at least.” “What are these grades?! Aren’t they usually A or B or C or something?!” “You did so badly that they had to take special measures, it seems. You added a new page to mock test history.” She was much worse, of course, than any of them could have imagined. “Oh, but one place gave you an offer!” “What?! There’s a scouting system?! Well, I guess some people know my talent when they see it!” “The Primate Research Institute gave you an offer: We would like to compare you with Kenji the chimpanzee to see which of you is more intelligent…” “Hey, now they’re just making fun of me!” “Kenji wrote a comment for you. Eee! Eee! I’m going to send you into next week, come at me! Eee! Eee! It’ll be over in a second! Eee! Eee!” “What is this, a prewrestling match interview?! And that chimpanzee sure talks a lot!” “Well, there are still some mock tests left we can do, so give it your best next time, okay…? To be honest, I have zero expectations.” “Mm-hmm, I’ll make it work. That’s right, there’s always next time. Next time…” Ryouta could tell that Shiren’s energy had drained a bit. “Well, let’s call it here for today~. I need to get home soon; otherwise, I might collapse on the way back. Ehem, ehem, ehem, ehem…” Rei began putting her things away. “Thanks for coming, Rei,” Ryouta said. “It’s just part of my job. I know it’s all wasted effort, but I’ll keep at it as her tutor.” “Um, you really shouldn’t say ‘wasted effort’ out loud like that.” “It may be painful, but we need to face reality. A rotten apple will always be rotten.” A complaint rose up from behind them. “What rotten apple?! At least make me a rotten tomato!” But they both ignored it. “Oh, Ryou?” “Hmm? What is it?” “You’ve been living in the Empire for a while now, but do you think you’ll ever want to go back to Japan?” Rei asked casually. “Well, since I don’t live here alone… And it’s not like I could really enjoy a trip back anyway…” “Oh, I guess that’s true~. Well, I was just thinking, we’re all right now, but I don’t know what will happen to the Empire in the future. But if we start speculating on that, it’ll never end, will it?” Rei was already putting her shoes on by the door. “But you’re not planning on going back, are you, Rei?” “It’s more fun here for now, and you’re here, Ryou. But we do have to think about things in the long term. We have long lives ahead of us… Oh no, I’m going into a fit…” Thud. “Don’t say ‘we have long lives ahead of us’ and then collapse right afterward!” Ten minutes later, she came back around. “I had a dream about a lovely field of flowers. There were so many red spider lilies.” “Right… Aren’t red spider lilies supposed to grow in the afterlife…?” “There was someone there, too. His name sounded foreign. I think he said it was Owen.” “Huh, weird place to be getting your international exchange in, Rei…” “Well, see you tomorrow. Ehem, ehem, ehem.” “Yeah, see you tomorrow.” “Oh, Kiyomizu wasn’t here today.” “Yeah, she hasn’t been around lately.” There was a hue of suspicion in Rei’s eyes. “Just because the two of you are alone together, don’t think about doing anything inappropriate, okay? Your sister would never approve.” “We won’t! I wouldn’t even think of it!” “You’d best not. If I hear something happened, then I might collapse from the shock.” “You’ll collapse even without any shock.” “Oh no! Another fit…” Thud. “There you go again!” Fifteen minutes later, she woke up. “Owen professed his love for me… He said he loved me dearly, but we live in different worlds, so it’ll never work out.” “I think that guy is dead… You sure are finding romance in the weirdest places, Rei…” “Well, I turned him down right away. I still have to look out for you for the foreseeable future, Ryou,” she said proudly. “You’re making me feel guilty. Please just go and get married if you find someone you love…” As her little brother, Ryouta was more than a little distressed that she was letting chances at her own happiness slip by. She may look young, but she was still a fully-fledged adult.