After ten more days, everything—including the peculiar atmosphere this house held—returned to normal.
*Ring* *Ring* *Click*
My alarm clock began to ring, but since I was awake, I turned it off. After getting out of bed, I proceeded to the bathroom as usual, completed my morning routine, and then went to the kitchen to grab some breakfast.
"You're awake, Izumi."
She's wearing the same smile.
"Morning, Loser."
"Good morning, everyone"
After taking a seat and grabbing the bowl of rice that was on the table, I began to eat while expressing my gratitude for the food.
"Your school starts tomorrow, so have you guys prepared everything?"
Mom inquired, looking at us with her usual cheerful expression.
Schools?
"Yesh"
"What about you, Izumi?"
Schools are places where humans go to get an education. Rika informed me that it was our school holidays; perhaps they will begin tomorrow.
"Me, too."
"Good thing you two can handle your own things, unlike this middle-aged man I know."
Mom smiled as she looked at dad, and Rika began giggling while holding food in her mouth.
"I take care of things on my own too. Rika, I can hear your giggles."
"Oh, do you? Then what about that half-trimmed bear of yours?
"Hahaha, sorry Dad, but you look funny."
Oh, I saw that as soon as I walked in, but I chose to ignore it because I thought it was some sort of new human fashion.
"Huh?"
Dad stood up from his seat and walked to the bathroom to check his face. He took a while to return from the bathroom, and when he did, I saw that he had removed his remaining facial hair.
He entered the kitchen, sat down, and began eating without making any noise.
"Whaaat? Tatsu, why did you clean it? It looked good on you, and I didn't even take any pictures.
"Why did't you inform me sooner?"
"Fufu, because you looked good in it."
The two of them carried on their conversation, or rather, mom just launched an attack on dad by talking about his embarrassing moments.
They left the house to go to work, just like they did every day save Sunday, leaving Rika and I alone in the house.
I became interested in learning more about the school preparation that my mother was discussing, so I went to Rika's room.
*Knock* *Knock*
Upon knocking on her door, I got no response from her and instead heard strange noises coming from inside that sounded like her voice.
"Rika, can I come in!"
I yelled because it seemed like she was not listening to me.
"Wait! Don't, ugh, come in!"
Her voice was slightly shaky, as if she was out of breath.
Why does it seem like something is wrong here?
I ignored her words and opened the door.
"...what are you doing?"
"Hey! didn't I told you not to open the door? Leave now!"
"Okay, but what's with that position?"
I was forced to leave her room when she stopped making the potion and began throwing things at me.
"Hey! Close the door!"
I left her as she had instructed and made my way to the living room, still trying to figure out what she was doing in that position.
Maybe she was impersonating a four-legged creature.
Thinking about it, I turned on the television, and the first channel piqued my interest.
"Miss Kikui, a 27-year-old woman who was thought to have been taken over by a demon and was the main suspect for the deaths in the sector 1 of city T, has been missing for more than two weeks—"
they're still talking about this?
"When the Demon hunting team arrived in her room, the only thing they discovered was the corpse of a man, which we believe is her boyfriend's body."
Talk about being late. During my conversation with Lilith, I wondered when the demon hunting group would appear, but they never did.
"This is Mr. Nakata, who lives on the lower floor below Miss Kikui's and lost her wife in this incident. So, would you like to inform our viewers about what occurred?"
The woman angled her mic at the dejected-looking man.
"Ye-yes, that day I was out of station because of my work and then during midnight I got a call from her and when I picked up her call and asked her if everything was alright, she did not say anything for a while—suddenly she started crying and panickingly repeated the same word that 'she can't take it anymore'—I told her to calm down and tell me what happened but then suddenly—I, sniff, I heard a noise and I lost connection with her—I made my way home as soon as possible. But I-I, sniff, I was late."
I watched TV for a few more minutes before Rika burst into the living room. She approached me, locked my neck with her arm, and began to tighten her hold.
"Didn't I warn you not to enter!"
"You did? Sorry I didn't hear."
Her grip around my neck tightened, causing my head to hurt.
Urgh, this hurts.
"You saw everything?"
"I'm sorry, but was that a question or a statement—Ouch, ouch."
"Just answer me."
"All I saw was that strange position where your hands were on the ground and it appeared you were building a bridge or something."
Her grip around my neck loosened.
"You saw nothing else, right?"
Was there anything else to watch?
"Only that."
"So you didn't see that."
She muttered, then looked away, leaving my poor neck in peace. I looked at her face, which appeared more sad than angry.
What is even wrong with her? Why her behavior does not match her face.
She then sat across from me on the sofa and, as usual, hijacked the remote. There were moments when I tried to reclaim it from her, but I would always end up getting kicked or punched by her, so I gave up and watched whatever she was watching.
"What we're you doing in your room?"
"It has nothing to do with you. Loser."
"Alright."
Because she didn't wanted to answer me, I did not force her for a variety of reasons and turned my attention to television.
The channel displayed various creatures from this world.
"So cute."
Cute? That creature appears ferocious, ready to attack and devour you if you get too close.
I had many bad experiences with creatures from both the demon and human realms, which made me skeptical of all creatures.
We saw that channel for a while, and it brought back memories of the horrific experiences I was subjected to by that woman for her experiments.
"I think I'm getting fat."
"Huh?"
"I gained some weight during our vacation, so I was doing some exercise to burn calories."
What is she saying—oh, this is related to what she was doing in her room, but she said she doesn't want to discuss it.
"Yes you're."
According to what I understood, she was discussing the shape of her stomach. When I was in her room, I noticed her stomach because, due to her upside-down position, her t-shirt was on her face, making it easy for me to answer her.
She clenched her teeth and formed a fist, as if about to punch me.
"Should't you say something like, you look fine?"
"Oh, okay, so, um, you look just fine with that stomach, and that blue color bra looked good on you."
"Huh?"
Why does she look more angry than before.
I considered avoiding further conversation and turned my attention to the television.
"Wow, those scary creatures look adorable."
She punched me in the face, and unlike previous punches, this one hurt. After punching me, she exited the room without saying anything.
Huh? Huh? She herself said to compliment her, so why did she become angry all of a sudden?