Chapter 31

-Cheers!

Finished with Rouga's training, I arrived home just in time for dinner .

I was called by mom to take a seat, then ate my meal . Today's dinner was a delicious hamburger, as expected from my mom . I suddenly sensed Karen's odd gaze while I was enjoying my hamburger .

When our eyes met, she averted them once again .

She avoided eye contact again . I wondered if I was being ignored by her .

I threw away my thoughts about Karen for the time being and focused on savoring the hamburger in front of me .

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In the middle of the quiet night .

I abruptly awoke from my peaceful sleep due to the [Presence sensation], which detected something nearby . I usually had it active as a plan against thieves, but I never thought that something like that would actually happen .

I got up and prepared to catch the thief when I finally realized that the detected presence was not new and I halted . Apparently it was Karen .

As I was trying to figure out what she would be doing at this time of night, Karen stopped in front of my room . Immediately after realizing that door was slowly opening, I swiftly covered myself and pretended to be asleep .

Karen slowly approached my bed, raised my blankets and lay next to me .

Wai- what are you doing?!

Getting soundlessly shocked by her conduct, Karen didn't stop there, but kept moving until she was stuck against me .

Eh, no way, what was this? What was this situation supposed to be?

Feeling dubious about Karen's unusual behavior, I opened my eyes to confirm whether it was really her or not .

"..."

"..."

Our eyes met spot on .

It was really Karen after all .

Despite the eye contact, Karen remained to gaze at me . She must be extremely surprised since her eyes were faintly shifting .

We continued staring at each other for a few seconds . I mean, I couldn't move even if I had wanted to .

Feeling pressed by the severe silence, I brought up my courage and opened my mouth .

"A- uum, What... are you doing?"

"...Nothing..."

"I-I see..."

Replying with only "I see," to her excuse, the silence took place once again .

This was really awkward...

Trying to figure out a way out of the situation, Karen opened her mouth .

"...thanks . "

"Thanks?'

"I didn't express my thanks to you yet . "

It was probably about the other day with the dragon . All of that happened because I blew the dragon in her direction, so I didn't deserve to be thanked, honestly .

"I couldn't find a good time to thank you and I had a hard time finding a good place to do so..."

"That's why you sneaked into my bed?"

Karen slowly nodded her head .

This explains why she had been avoiding me lately .

It seemed like she had been waiting for good timing .

When I finally consented to Karen's recent conduct, I said to her .

"Karen, all of that happened because I sent the dragon in your direction . So you don't need to thank-"

"Doesn't matter . "

Karen interrupted me when I arrived at the important part .

"The fact that you saved me doesn't change . Besides, you rescued me from something else too . "

Uttering those words, Karen moved her face near my chest to hide it from me .

"So, thank you . Onii-chan . "

Karen's last line reverberated inside my head .

Onii-chan... huh .

"Been a long time since you last called me that way . "

I wonder, when did she stop calling me Onii-chan?

Trying to remember the past, I recalled the last time she called me that way .

It was when we were still in elementary school . At that time I snapped after seeing her getting bullied by her classmates . Looking back at it now, I think that I went too far by taking their pictures and scattering them around the school .

From that day on, she started addressing me by "Hey, you," or "Come here," instead of "Onii-chan . "

Even here attitude had turned from that of a child to appear more like that of an adult woman .

But still, Onii-chan, huh?

"Karen, can you call me Onii-chan one more time?"

"Don't get carried away . "

I requested Karen to call me Onii-chan again, but she refused .

I guess that was more of a rare event . I wanted to get immersed by its reverberation at least one more time .

How unfortunate, it looked like I wouldn't be hearing that word for long while .

"But I can call you by anything else . "

Karen suggested .

Anything else? Just how bad do you not want to call me Onii-chan? Your big brother was feeling kinda sad now .

After spending a few moments pondering about how I should answer, I hit on a good idea .

"Well then, how about we go out somewhere together tomorrow?"

We rarely go out together, so it wouldn't be that bad if we went somewhere tomorrow .

"Okay . "

Getting Karen's consent, I promptly went back to sleep to wake up in time for tomorrow's adventure .

"Okay then, tomorrow was it?"

"Right . Good night . "

Karen replied to my question and closed her eyes .

So she will sleep here, huh...

A bitter smile reached my face while watching Karen, who was sticking to me, and I closed my eyes to wait for sleep to come .

Her sleeping face and light breaths made it a little hard to sleep, but since it was cute, I let it pass .

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Bonus

A promise .

"Chief, what did you do last night?"

"What do you mean?"

"Chief, yesterday you were kinda strange~ "

"Yesterday, Karen came to my room and we slept together . "

"Hmmm... hey, chief . "

"What?"

"You enjoyed your last night, didn't you?"

"Wo- let's clear up this matter right away . "

Nothing happened actually .