"…Doesn't seem like rain is stopping anytime soon."
We were currently home. After me and Yuumi got home, the rain started again, with it becoming more and more stronger with no signs of stopping.
Fortunately, my school sent a message to me. More specifically, Miku told me that classes were suspended. It appeared that a strong storm had appeared and will most likely disappear by the time dinner has started. The case is the same for Yuumi.
"There's nothing much to do as well," Yuumi said.
That was true. This may be our house, but our options are limited when it comes to us. We both don't socialize with other people, so coming up with something to do would definitely be hassle, even if we're both siblings.
For now, we decided to have breakfast. Unlike last weekend, today we had omelette rice, Yuumi's speciality. She has an unusual order of cooking breakfast for me: On the weekdays, it's just omelette rice, and on the weekends, it's something completely random.
"So, what are we going to do?" Yuumi asked.
"I have no idea."
We could go outside, but unlike last week when the skies were clear, because of the storm, we couldn't do anything. Being stuck indoors might be something that people yearn for all the time, especially on the weekdays, but me and Yuumi are people that's pretty much unsatisfied with our everyday lives.
If we wanted to come up with something, we needed someone that was good when it comes to organizing schedules and such. They do make their everyday lives satisfying by doing something.
"If only we had Miku-chan-senpai…," Yuumi said.
To be honest, I had the exact same thought as her. She's calm and collected, but unlike Yuumi, when it comes to doing something everyday, she can pretty much come up with stuff.
As soon as Yuumi said that, the intercom rang. That was unusual, especially in this weather. No one would go into this cold of a weather, especially as crazy as a storm.
"I'll go check it out," Yuumi said.
After she finished her breakfast, Yuumi went ahead and walked towards the entrance. I finished mine just after hers, picked up the plates, and put them in the sink for later washing.
After that, a bulky man wearing some sort of Hawaiian shirt entered our house while Yuumi was getting a piggyback ride.
"Yo!" the bulky man said. "Been a while, hasn't it?"
"…Where's Mom?"
"You're not even gonna greet me?! That's just sad…Yuumi! Help me out here, my cute little daughter!"
"I am wondering where she is as well," Yuumi said.
"You too?!"
The bulky man that was currently in our household is the father of the Akamatsu siblings, Mitsuaki Akamatsu.
He was supposedly in his job somewhere in the country, so it was unusual to see him home, especially in this stormy day. We haven't seen him for half a year now. He must've gone ahead and went to the gym, because I have never seen him this muscular.
"Greetings are for later," I said. "We love you Dad, but we love Mom more."
"That's just cruel, especially coming from my first child…" He placed a plastic bag on the table in the living room and sat on the couch. It probably contained some tea leaves. "She's still in the other place. I'm not entirely sure, but she was working on something that she didn't have time to come with me."
"I'll go prepare tea," Yuumi said as she hopped off of Dad's back.
"Make mine orange juice!" Dad said.
"So why are you back here?" I asked. "Don't you have a job to do?"
"Well, I just came to drop by. I've got work to do here which will just take a few days, then I'm back to Mom. I'll be leaving shortly after the storm calms down."
Dad is someone who's bad at setting up schedules. He does plan ahead whenever we go out, but most of the time, it's either the weather is bad at that time or he has something to do with his work. Most of the time, it was the latter.
After a bit, Yuumi had two teacups and one cup brought to the table.
"Hm? Yuumi, where's my orange juice?"
"Right here," she said as she took a sip from the cup that isn't a teacup. And, sure enough, that was where the orange juice resided.
"Um, Yuumi-sama, would it be possible for you to bestow me upon the orange juice that I asked for?"
"You shall get what you have after I have had my portion of this holy liquid."
Their conversation was weird, but it hit a nostalgic part of me. Yuumi and Dad often played the types of games where Dad was the knight and Yuumi was the queen. Thinking about it, that was probably the start of Yuumi's obsession towards the otaku world.
Yuumi placed the cup on the table, and Dad examined the inside.
"…Yuumi-sama didn't leave a single drop for me…," Dad whined.
"Such a pitiful knight you are, asking me to take care of bringing your pathetic juice. I may have been given an order, but I shall not be bound by the duty that has been given to me by my pitiful knight."
Yuumi suddenly let out a voice that was rather imposing with the hint of being all high and mighty. Like some sort of queen scolding one of her guards because they didn't do good enough on their mission.
"But you were the one who said you'd bring in drinks."
"I clearly stated that I would bring tea, not juice. Therefore, you shall go ahead and consume this other holy liquid your queen has prepared for you."
"But—"
"Am I understood?"
"…Understood…"
That somehow turned out to be more weird than I thought. Yuumi sure did throw facts at Dad that he couldn't come up with his own rebuttal. He looked like a lost puppy now.
But of course, that expression of his didn't last long.
"Okay, I'll be sleeping for a bit!" Dad declared after he gulped down the tea in one go as he switched back to his cheerful side rather quickly.
He went upstairs as he took off his jacket that was slightly wet from the rain and tossed it on the couch.
"He's really active even on a gloomy weather," Yuumi said. "I wonder just where he gets that energy from?"
"Probably something called a 'parent's love'. They gotta be the model of our life after all. It's unfortunate that his role model of being the cheerful one isn't working."
"True. I just can't picture ourselves being as cheerful and energetic as Dad."
He's been that way ever since we were a child. When I mentioned "parents love," I was actually pretty serious there. Despite him being tired, he shows to us that showing his own weakness is bad for us as his children. That's why he always appears to be so energetic. Perhaps that's what he's trying to convey by being so cheerful all of the time.
"Even if Dad's home, it's not really fun without Mom around," Yuumi said.
"That's true."
Although we had Dad, the only other person we want to stick around with was Mom. She's one of the reasons why Ryuuji—my alter—is now gone, and because Yuumi is here.
Of course, Yuumi felt the same way. Despite not having spent as much time as me with her around, she felt thankful for her. Yuumi was able to learn from Mom about how to take care of ourselves without her around.
The rain kept pouring down on our roof. The outside felt more and more desolate as the water continued to drop. Despite it obstructing our day from doing anything outside, the sounds felt rather calming.
***
And without so much of a flick, the storm still hasn't stopped. It was already past four in the afternoon, yet the weather showed no signs of even getting weaker.
Now it felt really cold inside the house. The temperature we were used to suddenly dropped due to the prolonged exposure of our house in the rain. But fortunately, we had ourselves a fix for that.
"Phew, this feels comforting!" Dad said.
"Very true~" Yuumi said, leaning on my body after sitting on my lap.
Although it still wasn't the time of the year, we decided to take out the kotatsu that has been laying dormant ever since winter ended last year. Since we found a perfect opportunity with the perfect weather, we decided to take it out.
We were all currently sitting down in the kotatsu, with our lower bodies beneath the blanket. Dad was on the opposite side of me, and because of his bulky body, he almost occupied the entire side all by himself.
Yuumi was on my side, sitting in my lap. She said something about making use of both the kotatsu's heating and my body temperature. Of course, that proved to be useful information, because both of us are getting more comfy than last year.
"By the way, how's the both of your school lives? Anything noteworthy?" Dad asked.
"Nothing much, no," I said.
"Yes, same as him. Besides Yuu-nii making two girl friends with one sometimes hanging in our house and sleeping here, nothing seems to be much noteworthy."
"Yuumi, those facts were pretty noteworthy."
"What?!" Dad suddenly shouted in surprise. "You've got two girlfriends, Yuuji?! When did you become such a delinquent?! And to top it all off, one is staying here?! While me and mother are on another place?!"
"No, you're misunderstanding stuff. Both the girls are just my friends, and it's true that one of them does hang around and sleep here. But the 'sleeping' part is what you're misunderstanding."
"Yes Dad, please let me finish," Yuumi said.
"Yuumi, don't burn more fuel to the fire—"
"One of the girls does sleep with Yuu-nii."
"Whaaaaaaaat?!!"
Dad's body became limp and dropped himself on the kotatsu. He laid his head facedown on the wooden platform, and then spoke to me.
"…Are they at least beautiful?"
"They're absolutely stunning," I said without a moment's notice that even I didn't realize what I had just said.
Dad slowly raised his head and looked at me with dejected eyes, and then switched to a calm-like state.
"Well, if you say so," he said.
"That sure sounds as if you don't believe me."
"No, no, I do believe you. After all, when it's Yuumi saying it, there's no way that it's a lie. You're still in your high school days, so you should enjoy it as much as you can."
"That really sounds as if you don't believe a single word Yuumi had just said."
The intercom rang like earlier this morning, and another confusion attack both me and Yuumi.
"I'll, uh, get it," I said as I stood up from the comfort zone known as the kotatsu and Yuumi, who was sitting on lap.
I walked towards the entrance despite the low temperatures that I was already shivering a little, and opened the door.
"Hey there! Whoa, you're shivering a lot."
"…Miku…"
The person that rang the intercom was none other than the class representative and my classmate, Miku Akiyama.
She was wearing multiple layers of clothes, probably to defend her from the cold, and she was holding a rather large umbrella on her right hand and a plastic bag in the other. She also had a large backpack strapped on her front.
"Why are you here, especially in this storm?" I asked.
"Questions later, okay? You might freeze to death if you just stand there with nothing to warm you up."
Not only was the house already plenty cold, opening the door enhanced the freezing temperatures even more. It was already pretty obvious that we should go inside.
Miku took off her outermost layer of clothing, which is just her jacket, and took placed it in my shoulders. Due to her wearing it earlier, the clothing felt warm from her body temperature. It was enough to make me calm for a bit. After that, she placed the large umbrella she was holding and placed it somewhere to dry off.
"Yuumi-chan, I've come to play!" Miku said after she opened the door to get living room. "Oh, you've got someone over?"
"Yeah, that's right," I said, still slightly shivering. "He's our Dad."
I wasn't sure if Dad was in surprise or in disbelief because his facial expression that was usually bright and cheerful suddenly turned to basically nothing. He's expressionless, so to speak.
"Come on, Dad," Yuumi said. "Greetings are always essential when meeting somebody new."
"Ah, right," he answered somewhat dejectedly.
Dad stood up from the kotatsu and bowed in the direction of Miku.
"Pleasure to meet you, young lady. I'm the father of the children in this house. Tell me, what relationship do you have with Yuuji?"
"Oh, nice to meet you, Mister Akamatsu. My name is Miku Akiyama. Yuuji and I are just friends."
"You're the type of friend that calls him by his first name and goes to his house?"
"Well, I guess you could say that. We just get along well."
This feels like more of an interrogation than a greeting.
"You can sit back on the kotatsu now, Dad," Yuumi said. "Feel free to take a seat in the kotatsu as well, Miku-chan-senpai. I'll go prepare some tea."
"Oh, Yuumi, can I get the orange juice that I couldn't get earlier—"
"Silence, you ignorant fool," Yuumi said in a cold tone, cutting off Dad's sentence. Dad acted like he was hurt in response. "You shall only get tea, for this weather is bad for cold drinks."