Chapter 16: The Unforthcoming One
"I need to go to the bathroom!"
Morning arrived, and the first one to wake up wasn't Yuuta or Sora, but Hina, who was desperately holding it in.
Miu, who slept beside Hina, woke up shortly after and, in her groggy state, said, "Oh, sister... Hina's a good girl; I'll help you."
As Miu fully awakened, she noticed something unusual when she looked to the other side.
Normally, when Hina needed assistance, it was Yuuta who offered to help.
But when Miu glanced over this time, she witnessed a rather comical scene. Yuuta, who was sleeping on the outermost side, lay on his side with his back turned to them. Even though they were all sleeping in close proximity, there was still about 20 centimeters of space between them, especially between Yuuta and Sora. The gap was almost the width of a pillow.
However, in the current moment...
Sora was pressed up against Yuuta's back, with one of her legs draped over his and her upper body embracing him tightly. She had Yuuta sandwiched in a way that turned him into an unintentional pillow!
Miu found this situation quite amusing but decided to carefully take Hina to the bathroom. After Hina had finished using the toilet, Miu quickly returned.
She stood at the front of Yuuta, crouching down in front of him with a smile. "Big brother, you're really putting in the effort~"
Yuuta remained silent, merely giving Miu a thumbs-up and subtly gesturing toward his back, silently hoping Miu would assist in moving Sora away.
He knew that if he attempted to do it himself, given Sora's easily startled nature, there would be only two possible outcomes. Either she'd react with embarrassment and anger, possibly even hitting him, or she'd realize what she had done and refuse to speak to him.
To avert what could be a highly awkward situation, Yuuta had no choice but to feign sleep. He hoped that if Sora woke up first, it would resolve everything. Once she moved away, they could all act as if nothing had happened.
Yuuta had planned to ask Miu for help, but just as she began to stand up, she was called over by Hina.
"Sis, I'm finished!"
"Coming!" Miu promptly responded and went to assist Hina.
Their entire apartment was cramped, measuring less than 20 square meters. The room where Yuuta and the three children slept also doubled as their dining and living area, occupying around 8 square meters of space.
The sleeping arrangements for the four of them took up nearly the entire room. So, after Miu left, her footsteps on the floorboards were enough to awaken Sora.
As she opened her eyes, Sora found herself looking at the figure in front of her. The short-sleeved clothing looked so familiar, just like the person in her dreams. But her hands... and her feet...
As she lowered her gaze in horror and realized that she was straddling the man in front of her, Sora's mind went blank.
"Ahhh!"
In the end, he couldn't escape it. After receiving a kick from Sora and hearing her ear-piercing scream, he acknowledged that life was indeed tough. Dealing with girls was genuinely challenging. It seemed that no matter what he did, it was always wrong.
"It's quite challenging to have a secretive sister," Miu sighed as she helped Hina get dressed. "Big brother is truly pitiable."
"Big brother is really pitiable!" Hina echoed.
Miu didn't want to instill bad habits in Hina, so she gently corrected her, saying, "No, Hina, that's not right. You should call him 'Uncle,' okay?"
"Oh, Uncle is so pitiable~" Hina obediently complied, following her sister's lead.
Miu led Hina outside and, upon exiting, saw Sora with a red face, her back to Yuuta, refusing to look at him.
Meanwhile, Yuuta stood up with an air of helplessness and began tidying up his bedding. Fortunately, the girls were fine with him assisting them with their sheets. Despite the earlier incident with Sora, he didn't hold any ill will. Sleeping next to Hina was a breeze; she was indeed the most well-behaved.
"Sora, Miu, do you have any dirty clothes? I plan to do some laundry later, and we can wash them together," Yuuta inquired, as he intended to tackle the laundry in the morning, with their afternoon plans in mind.
Sora nodded. "Yes, we do. Mine, Miu's, and Hina's clothes all need washing. But, how do you intend to do laundry? We don't have a washing machine, do we?"
"I usually handwash my own clothes, and it doesn't take much time. Besides, it's summer now, so there aren't any heavy garments," Yuuta explained, thinking that handwashing would suffice and help save some money.
However, Sora chided him, "What about underwear? Uncle, you really need to consider these things. You're not alone anymore. We'll wash our own clothes! Is there a laundromat nearby?"
Yuuta hadn't thought about this aspect and realized that he couldn't handle washing their underwear.
"There is a laundromat nearby, not too far from here. But for underwear, you'll need to use the coin-operated dry cleaning machine next to it," Yuuta explained with a sigh, realizing that this would be an additional expense.
Given that it was summer, they had to change clothes daily. If he spent 400 yen each time they washed clothes outside, it would quickly accumulate to 12,000 yen per month. With their monthly rent of 56,000 yen, along with utility bills, especially when they used the air conditioner, and considering Hina's fondness for the TV, their total expenses could easily range from 61,000 to 81,000 yen per month. And that didn't even account for groceries, phone bills, and Hina's occasional treats.
Nonetheless, there was no point in dwelling on it. Yuuta could only hope that the untitled novel he couldn't even discuss by name would generate more royalties to help alleviate the financial strain.