Chapter 22

The house was deathly silent. I remembered the first time I entered this house. Even though it hasn't been that long, this house has become much livelier, and I've accepted it as I always have.

If everyone were to leave this house, how would I feel? While thinking about this, I locked the door.

Turning around, I saw a figure. For a moment, I almost screamed, but I swallowed it back with all my might.

"It's just you, Ridi."

It was Ridi. She wasn't in the house when I looked earlier (of course, I might have missed her), so she must have just arrived.

"Were you outside?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking about looking at the moon."

I was relieved it wasn't Sermia. If it had been her, she would have definitely noticed something was off.

"Is that so?"

Ridi smiled quietly. However, I felt a certain presence, a kind of "pressure," as if she could overwhelm even Helen.

"I'm not doing anything strange, so don't worry."

"Then that's good."

With that, Ridi silently returned to her room.

"I should go to bed early too..."

Because of the nervous palpitations, I probably won't be able to fall asleep easily, but I need to get some rest to avoid feeling the effects tomorrow—by the standards of my previous world, the date has probably just changed.

The next morning, the sky was overcast. The combination of the summer heat and the forest atmosphere brought a slight sense of gloom. Even though the temperature was high, the lack of sunlight made it a bit more bearable, which was a small consolation.

"Will it rain?"

As I looked up at the sky, Sermia also looked up and then sniffed the air before saying,

"Nah, it'll be fine."

"If you say so, it'll probably be fine."

"She's right 90% of the time."

Sermia laughed. If this weren't a game where a certain robot appears, I'd think 90% accuracy is pretty good. I just hope today isn't in that 10%.

I laughed and ruffled Sermia's hair, then shouldered my hoe and headed to the work site.

"You've made quite a bit of progress."

While having lunch on the terrace, Helen looked at the covered walkway and said. The work progressed smoothly without rain until noon, and the roof team seemed to have gotten used to their tasks, so it was moving faster than expected. Our path team was also almost done, with only a little left.

I didn't think we'd finish today or yesterday, but it looks like we might be almost done today. That's not a bad thing at all.

"Connecting everything like this makes it feel like the other buildings are part of the house too."

Anne said this, and everyone in the family nodded in agreement. Even though the buildings are separate, they feel like part of the main house when they're connected, even if it's open-air.

"I told you it was a good idea to start early."

I put on a deliberately smug face. The initial response was a wry smile, but then,

"Well, in hindsight, you're right. Kuru and Lucy won't feel left out."

Diana said, and Rike followed with, "That's true."

With our afternoon motivation recharged, we finished our lunch and got back to work, connecting the family and the family's home.