3 bar menu

Chapter 60 Part 2

Today’s menu was purely Japanese-style: white rice, miso soup with tofu and wakame seaweed, horse mackerel, simmered hijiki mushrooms, boiled komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach), and chilled tofu.

Ever since the housekeeper changed, the number of Western-style dishes had decreased, and Japanese-style dishes, which were typical of mother’s cooking, had increased.

This seemed to have come as a shock to Elena, who had always been fond of Western-style food.

She reaped what she sowed.

「Big sis, don’t you eat fish?」

「Because… the bones are….」

「Geez, how hopeless of you. I’ll remove the bones for you, so….」

「Wha! Thank you!」

Unable to just watch his elder sister, who was not interested in putting her hands on it at all, Yuu took his elder sister’s plate of horse mackerel and removed the bones.

As she had the plate handed over to her again after having the backbone and even the small bones neatly removed with chopsticks, Elena finally put her chopsticks on the fish.

「Make sure to eat the vegetables, too, okay?」

「I, I get it.」

Martina was looking at Yuu and Elena, who were having such a conversation next to each other, with a wide smile on her face.

In her hand was a glass of wine, the contents of which were amber-colored liquid.

They were having Japanese food, so sake would have been the best match, but Martina preferred wine because of her mother’s influence.

It was something that Yuu and Elena had prepared after discussing that since they were having fishes, the white one should be good.

「Fufufu. It’s the opposite of when you were kids.」

「Is that so?」

「Until you were in elementary school, Elena acted like a big sister and devotedly took care of you even when you ate.」

Putting a piece of horse mackerel in her mouth, Elena tried to remember the old days as she chewed on it.

「Come to think of it… Yuu, when you were a child, you were very picky about what you liked and disliked, weren’t you?」

「Huh… is, is that so…?」

Even if she suddenly told him so, the childhood memories of this body didn’t immediately resurface to his mind.

「It was the green peppers, right? And then carrots and green onions, right?」

「I, I can eat vegetables now!」

「Fufufu, you sure have grown up.」

As Elana suddenly showed big sisterly composure, Yuu counterattacked.

「Right back at you, big sis. When you were shutting yourself in your room, you didn’t eat much, didn’t you? Moreover, you seemed to be eating stocks of retort foods at weird hours. That’s bad for your health and beauty, you know? From now on, let’s prepare and eat proper food together, okay?」

「But I’ll grow fat.」

「You just need to keep it at the normal portion. Besides, if it’s you, big sis, you should be fine even if you put on a little weight. You are too skinny right now, just look.」

Yuu’s hand stroked Elena from her hip bone to the waist and then the side where her ribs stood out.

「Kyan! Geez, Yuu!」

「Wahahaha!」

Tears formed at the corners of Martina’s eyes as she watched Yuu and Elena joking around with each other, ignoring their food.

She could not help it, for she was so happy that the day had finally come when she could sit at the dining table with her family in a lively manner again.

◇ ◇ ◇

After finishing their meal and taking a short rest, it was time for Yuu to do some workouts.

Martina and Elena were watching him from the dining table.

Martina, who used to watch him up close, was asked by Yuu to keep some distance from him, as he said that it was embarrassing, so they settled in this position.

For Elena, who had heard in conversation that Yuu had started doing independent training, she was extremely pleased to be able to boldly watch Yuu working hard in such a manner.

She had touched Yuu’s body all over countless times while they were having sex, and when she recalled the fact that his arms and thighs had become harder than they used to be, she almost ended up making a slovenly face.

「Say, Mama.」

「What is it?」

「As expected, Yuu is so cool, isn’t he?」

「Fufufu, what’s with you saying such an obvious thing?」

「No, that’s not it. He’s become way cooler than he was in the past. Not only in appearance, his personality has also become more mature, making him look more dependable, or rather, more broad-minded.」

「Yes, I know what you mean. Just between you and me, he reminds you a little bit of your father, Sakuya-san, doesn’t he? Maybe you could say that he is getting more and more like him as he grows up.」

The two of them were talking about Yuu without taking their eyes off of him.

If the person in question were to hear the contents of their conversation, he would surely find it embarrassing, but not only were they sitting some distance away from him, currently he was so absorbed in running, so he didn’t hear it.

「You see, I….」

Elena had been looking at Yuu for a while, but then turned to Martina and opened her mouth.

「What is it, Elena?」

「I want to study hard and take the entrance exam for college next year, is that okay?」

「Oh my!」

In this day and age, the percentage of students who went on to college was not high.

In the world where Yuu used to live, the percentage was slightly below 40% in the 1990s and about 50% in the 2010s (both including junior colleges), whereas here it was only 20%.

Because of this, the age of employment, marriage, and childbearing was also lower than in the world Yuu knew.

Not only did Elena have excellent grades while she was still in school, she wished to go on to college as she should have been, so it was not so surprising.

Although her shutting herself in her room for almost half a year was a painful blank, it came as a surprise to Martina that she would go as far as thinking about her future course right after she got out of her room.

「Is there any job you want to get into?」

「Hmm… There is no one that immediately comes to mind yet.」

「Oh my, didn’t you say before that you wanted to be a professional, like a lawyer or a prosecutor?」

「Yes. At any rate, I’m thinking about getting qualifications that will help me earn money for Yuu. However, I don’t know if I will be able to pass the bar exam smoothly, and if possible, I think getting a job in a big company will be the safer choice. That’s why I’m considering the Department of Management or the Department of Economics, but I think I’ll do some research while I study from now on. At any rate, I want to grow into someone who can support Yuu financially from now on.」

「Ah~, I, I see.」

If it was Yuu that triggered Elena to become a shut-in, it was also Yuu that triggered her to get back on her feet.

She got the feeling that her brocon was growing.

However, regardless of that, if it spurred her to live more positively, Martina thought it was a good thing.

◇ ◇ ◇

It was around 11 o’clock at night.

Getting into the changing area of the bathroom, Yuu quietly closed the door behind him.

「It looks like Mom has gone to bed.」

「Yes.」

Elena was already down to her pink underwear, top and bottom.

Now that the hair elastic, which had tied up her hair into one bundle during the meal, had been removed, the tips of her hair were hanging down close to her waist.

「I haven’t cut my hair for a long time, so it’s grown pretty long. I guess I have to go get it cut next time.」

With the two of them standing side by side, the changing room was a little cramped.

As they stood facing each other, Yuu extended his hand to his elder’s back and touched her hair.

「Your hair is beautiful, so I like it better when it’s long, though.」

「Is, is that so? Ufufu. Then, I’ll ask them not not to cut it too much.」

「Yeah.」

They naturally brought their bodies closer and embraced each other.