Chapter 19

After finishing breakfast and getting ready, I and Hana took the train to the city center.

Since I don’t really want anything in particular, we basically go wherever Hana wants to go.

"Hey, big brother, which one do you think is better, this one or this one?"

Hana held up two dresses against her body and asked me.

One was black, and the other was a bright aqua.

The two dresses had contrasting impressions, but in this case—

"I think the deep, dark black that seems to swallow you whole is better."

"I’ll go with this one then."

Saying that, Hana returned the black dress to the salesperson and bought the aqua one.

Hey, why did you even ask?

After all that, as we stepped outside the store, Hana pointed in a certain direction.

"It’s a crepe, big brother. Let’s go get one."

"Alright, alright."

I was pulled by the hand and joined the line at the crepe stand.

Hana’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the menu board on the counter.

"I’ll go with the strawberry one. What about you, big brother?"

"Hmm… I’ll go with the chocolate banana."

Hearing my answer, Hana’s eyes widened.

"Huh? It’s rare for you to buy something like this. You always refuse when I ask what you want. What’s with the sudden change?"

"…Hmm."

Indeed, I’ve been trying to avoid unnecessary expenses, so I usually only buy Hana’s share.

But now, I have money earned from the dungeon.

A little luxury should be allowed.

Explaining the situation would be a hassle, so I tried to come up with an excuse.

"I became a sweet tooth yesterday."

"Yesterday!? What could have happened to make you…?"

Well, it seems I managed to bluff my way through it.

Perfect communication, I guess.

After that, we received our crepes and sat down on a nearby bench.

"Here we go. Mmm, it’s sweet and tangy, delicious!"

"Mm, it’s good."

It’s very sweet and delicious.

It’s nice to have something like this once in a while.

"Big brother, can I have a bite of yours?"

"Huh? Oh… here."

I was about to hand her the crepe with the wrapper, but Hana opened her mouth wide and bit into it.

I was surprised by her aggressive move when—

"Huh…? Rin, Hana? Why are you two together…?"

A familiar voice made my eardrums vibrate.

Looking over, I saw the girl we met the other day, Kashiwagi Yui, standing there.

"Yui?"

"Yui-senpai!?"

Our voices overlapped.

It seems Hana also knows her.

"Hana, do you know Yui?"

"Y-Yeah, she’s a senior at my school. But I’m more surprised that you know her. What’s your relationship with her?"

"We met as adventurers. We met in the dungeon the other day… What’s wrong, Yui?"

Yui stood there with a blank, silly expression.

She snapped back to her usual self when I called out to her.

"S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you two. I didn’t know you two were in such a relationship…"

"Such a relationship?"

She’s talking about us being siblings.

Well, I haven’t explained it to her, so it’s understandable that she doesn’t know.

But then—

"I didn’t expect you two to be such a lovey-dovey couple…"

"“Couple!?”"

It seems Yui has a major misunderstanding.

"Wait a minute, Hana and I aren’t a couple. By the way, didn’t you say you had a friend named Tenne the other day? That’s Hana. You should get it now, right?"

"S-So, that means—"

It seems she finally understood we’re siblings, and I let out a sigh of relief—

"—You two are in a student marriage, right?"

"No way!"

—I didn’t.

How did she come up with that?

Next to me, Hana let out a wry smile.

"Hehe… As always, she’s really quick to jump to conclusions."

"Has she always been like this…?"

Despite being exasperated, we tried to explain again.

It took us five more minutes to get Yui to understand that we are siblings.