Chapter 113 – Kazamachi Household"s Struggle (2)After struggling with a large amount of laundry, Aoi and I arrived at the community center"s meeting room.
This is the living s.p.a.ce allocated to large families with babies like us, and we are living with three other families.
The room was simply separated by a sad blue sheet, and although it is presented as a room, the sound of people talking was still audible.
“Alright, time to eat.”
“It"s pork soup today.”
I took off my shoes and stepped on the blue tarp while unrolling my long-sleeved shirt.
Aoi, who was following behind me, did the same, and we sat down next to each other towards the interior of the room.
”Thanks for your help. Shouhei-kun said he"s going to bring us something to eat.”
Yur-san handed me a slightly damp hand towel.
By the way, Yuri-san is also staying in this room with our family.
After all, her daughter, Officer Doggy, is in the middle of her official duties.
And she is very busy.
She travels around town every day and has no time to come back to this shelter.
I suggested that wouldn"t it be safer to be with us, and she agreed, overjoyed.
“Ah, thank you very much.”
I thanked her and took the hand towel, lightly wiped my hands, and handed it directly to Aoi.
”Are Jaja and the others okay?”
Aoi asked Yuri-san as she wiped her hands with the hand towel.
“Yes. They were playing energetically. Some of the kids are close in age, so they had fun. Isn"t that right, Rouge-chan?”
“Hmm. It was really fun.”
I"m not talking about you. I"m talking about Jaja and Nana.
Rouge nodded quietly as she sat cross-legged next to Yuri-san.
Jaja sat between her legs, play biting a giraffe block toy from the community center, with undivided attention.
Rouge who had red hair and was wearing my light black jacket and jeans looked like a country Yankee.
“I think Nana is finally getting used to her friends. Yesterday she wouldn"t leave me or Aoi-chan, but today she was playing with the building blocks with them.”
“Uu?”
Nana was sitting upright on Yuri-san"s lap as she looked up curiously, with her right thumb in her mouth.
“That"s good. She was crying so hard when I went to do the laundry, I was a little worried about her.”
“Well. Mother is the best, after all?”
When Aoi spread her arms out, Nana giggled and jumped up from Yuri-san"s lap.
She flapped her little wings and slowly approached Aoi. The short tail on her hips swayed side to side.
“Okay, there you go.”
“Ah.”
Flying shakily, Nana finally landed vigorously on Aoi"s chest.
“Jaja, you coming over here?”
“Hm. Jaja, you can stay here forever.”
Biting.
I spread my hands out to Jaja, and Rouge turned her body around to avoid showing it.
Jaja was too busy chewing on the giraffe block to notice me.
Hey, stop it. I want to hold Jaja, too.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Shouhei, holding a large tray, emerged from behind the blue sheet that served as a wall.
”Aoi-neechan, this is Jaja and Nana"s milk.”
Placing the tray on the blue sheet floor, Shouhei handed something to Aoi.
“Thank you. Is there also some for the other babies?”
A two-liter plastic bottle was handed to me.
The contents are probably hot water.
On top of the tray that Shouhei had placed on the floor, there were three more two-liter plastic bottles that were emitting soft steam.
Inside the medium-sized pot was pork soup. Besides that, there were also styrofoam bowls for several people and plastic fork and spoons.
“Yes, I"ll take these to our neighbors.”
He"s a considerate guy.
Holding three of the four plastic bottles, Shouhei stood up once more.
”Oh, me too.”
“Have a seat. Nana"s there.”
With that, my brother, a man of action, disappeared into the neighbor"s s.p.a.ce.
“Ah, he"s gone.”
“He"s truly a great kid.”
Rouge nodded shallowly once and saw Shouhei off.
“Aoi-chan. I"ll make you some milk.”
"Thank you Yuri-san. Nana? You must be hungry, right?”
Yuri-san was fishing around in Aoi"s bag that was left by the wall.
That bag was stuffed with Jaja and Nana"s milk, baby bottles, towels, and diapers.
It was the third day we"d been here, and it was all that Dad and I had brought from home.
Along with a change of clothes and stuff.
Yuri-san picked up two baby bottles, places them on her lap, and took out a milk can this time.
Aoi and Rouge were looking at the little guys.
Then I"ll get the pork soup ready.
So I took the styrofoam bowl, opened the lid of the pot and grabbed the ladle that was inside.
“Ah, I"m hungry. Time to eat, time to eat.”
“Ah, father-in-law. Good work.”
“Hmm. Welcome home, father.”
Aoi and Rouge greeted my dad as he returned right on time.
”Yes, I"m back. Well, it really feels great to be greeted by gorgeous girls!”
“Hmm. Welcome home. I wonder if I"m also included in that?”
“Of course.”
My dad walks onto the blue sheet with a disheveled look on his face and slumped down between me and Yuri-san.
Yuri-san smiled as he poured hot water from the plastic bottle into a baby bottle.
“You"re still so flattering with this old lady.”
“No, no, Yuri-san is still very beautiful.”
“Here"s a hand towel, father-in-law.”
Aoi handed my dad a hand towel from in front while they traded adult jokes.
“Ah, thank you.”
“Are you going to work in the afternoon as well?”
“Hmm. In the afternoon, they"re transporting the trees and branches that were cut down, so I was forced to take a day off because I didn"t have a role.”
While answering Aoi"s question, my dad wiped his hands with the towel and then wiped his face with all his might.
Ugh, it smells of old man.
You"re not in a bar, so don"t do that.
“That"s perfect since Shou was worried about you working too hard. Here"s your portion.”
I hand my dad the first bowl of pork soup.
“Ah, thank you. Where"s Shouhei?”
“Giving hot water for milk to the neighbors. You didn"t see him when you came in?”
I thought they would"ve pa.s.sed each other.
“Ah, I was talking to Iijimsan as we walked so I didn"t notice. Ah, thanks, Rouge-chan.”
Dad received a forked spoon from Rouge.
“Iijimsan, the neighborhood a.s.sociation president?”
“The wife.”
That calm old lady. She seems to be a kind person, and she seems to be good friends with Yuri-san.
“We"ve been talking about you and Aoi for a bit. I"ll talk to you after dinner.”
“Me and Aoi?”
“Me and Kunpei-san?”
I wrinkled my brow and asked back.
Um, it"s not like we"re talking about something dragon-related or anything, is it?
It should have already gone around Aoi and Rouge are sisters from the demon race.
”Ah, what can I say? It"s not something to get defensive about. But you might be in for a shock, though.”
“…I"ve got a bad feeling about this.”
My dad, who always says I"m simple-minded, says I"m going to be shocked.
Then it must be something very shocking to me.
I"m scared.
“I"m back. Ah dad, you"re back early.”
“Hey, good job, Shou. Thanks for the food.”
As I was dripping cold sweat and pondering, Shouhei came back.
”Nope. I"m not doing much. You must be hungry. Let"s hurry and eat.”
Saying that, Shouhei took off his shoes and sat down next to Rouge.
Before I knew it, my hands seemed to have prepared pork soup for the number of people, and everything was prepared for the meal.
“You"re right. Aoi-chan, go ahead and eat. In the meantime, Rouge-chan and I will keep an eye on the kids.”
“Yes, I"ll finish quickly, okay?”
“Aoi, don"t rush, eat slowly. The more I can play with Jaja the happier I am. Besides, I"m the only one who hasn"t done any work. Let me at least do this.”
“Then, I"ll take you up on your offer.”
“Indeed, Rouge has spent the past week only dealing with the small children in the shelter.”
These energetic, playful children in their prime will be allowed to leave the shelter and it"s also hard for them to tolerate being confined to stay in such a densely populated place.
The s.p.a.ce in the gymnasium, which was vacated after the emergency workers finished their treatment, is now a large playground.
Of course, Rouge is the one who is bearing the stress of these children.
She effortlessly deals with these children who have such energy and stamina that I suspect they are inexhaustible.
But for her, it"s just a reward.
Rouge also helps the children fall asleep earlier at night.
I"ve played with them once, but just one game of tag was enough to kill me. It"s exhausting.
“Come on, Nanchan. Do you want to have your meal with me?”
“Nmm, dah!”
When Nana saw the hand that Yuri-san offered her, she shook her head and clung to Aoi.
“Nana, it"s only while Mommy is eating, okay? Please.”
Aoi lifts Nana up and admonishes her, looking straight into her round eyes.
“… ah.”
“Un, thanks. Nana"s a good girl.”
“I can"t help it, it"s just for a bit, Nana, be a good girl for a little while, okay?”
With a reluctant look on her face, Nana was handed over by Aoi to Yuri-san.
“Jaja is crazy about the Giraffe. It"s a little vexing.”
Grabbing the giraffe block firmly with both hands, Jaja continued to chew on the giraffe, ignoring Rouge"s words.
I"m frustrated that she"s disregarding me as well.
“Well then, let"s start.”
Thank you for the meal.
My dad, Shouhei, Aoi and I joined our voices.
That was how today"s lunch started.