CH ss - 2

Kettle Days with my Step Sister

Our electric kettle seemed to have stopped working. When I pressed the button to turn it on, there was no usual response nor did I see any light flickering.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

Ayase-san had been washing dishes next to the sink up to that point, and she turned towards me.

“I think our electric kettle died.”

I pressed the button a few times, but nothing happened. The light didn’t turn on, and the button returned to its initial state as if nothing had happened.

“Yeah, I guess it’s done for good. Most likely the switch gave up on us. Well, it’s lived a long life, so…”

“Have you been using it for that long already?”

“Hmmm…”

I tried to remember when we first got it. I started using this kettle around my high school entrance exams, more specifically when I had just started getting into coffee and black tea, so…

“About three years?”

“That’s a shame.”

“Dad won it in a raffle for his year-end party, so it doesn’t feel like that much of a waste.”

Then again, after Mom left, since this thing only took a minute to make a cup of coffee, we’d been working this thing like a slave, I guess.

“This sucks,” I grumbled.

“Can’t you just use a stovetop kettle?”

“We don’t have any.”

“Ah, I see.” Ayase-san nodded.

The good thing about an electric kettle is that you can get as much boiling water as you’d like whenever you’d like, but without it, we’re stuck. It’s not like we have extra hot water lying around, either.

“What?” Ayase-san looked at me in confusion.

“I was just thinking that I’ve rarely seen you use this electric kettle.”

“Because I use this here,” She said and took out a red, stainless tumbler from the dish drainer. “Going back and forth to the kitchen feels like such a waste of time, and it disrupts my focus when I want to study. You tend to come here a lot though, right?”

“Yeah, it gives me peace of mind for a few minutes.”

“I see.”

“I was thinking of getting a personal coffee grinder anyway. That’ll allow me to use just the amount of coffee beans I’d like for a single cup.”

“Oh, really? I didn’t think you were that big of a coffee fan.”

I wasn’t particularly confident in my love for coffee to call myself that, but I did quite enjoy the brewing process.

“I don’t really enjoy washing dishes by any means, but I do enjoy the short amount of time where I can just focus on one process without thinking about anything else. I guess it’s something similar to that.”

I know that this is just wearing out my dishes that’d be useful for cooking. But even with that in mind, I can just wash them like Ayase-san is doing right now. It gives me another moment of peace too, even if I space out from time to time.

“I’ll wash the rest, so you go back to your homework, Ayase-san.”

“How did you know…?”

“About your homework?” I grabbed my phone, which I had placed on the dining table, and showed her the screen.

‘There’s a reading exercise and summary aspect to our homework today. Your beloved little sister’s in a pinch, so help her out pls~’

It seemed that Ayase-san hadn’t received this message from her good friend who was oh so worried about her not being good at Japanese.

“Maaya… Why does she keep bothering you like this?”

“I don’t mind helping you out if you’re actually stuck somewhere, but I think this is just her teasing us again.”

“I’m…fine.”

“Gotcha. I’ll bring you some coffee later.”

“…Thanks, I’ll leave the rest to you, then.”

I watched Ayase-san go back to her room and began washing the last few dishes.

“I guess I should talk to my old man about getting a new teakettle.”

Having one around is always more convenient than not. It lets me help my little sister with a fresh cup of coffee, after all.