"Just why did you return with a serious injury after going to buy soba?!"
With a pale face and flushed cheeks, my younger brother Shouhei raised his voice at me.
"Well, even if you ask my why… I just went along with the flow?"
It wasn"t like I"ve made some sense of it yet, either.
I also want to get an explanation, so it can"t be helped that I can"t give him one.
"You"re always like this, Bro! I"m sure you"ve done something reckless without thinking about the consequences again, right?! I"m always telling you—it"s praiseworthy to help people, but there"s no point if you"re getting hurt! As for the people you help, they"re always making an unnecessary fuss because you"re behaving so recklessly! I know you won"t listen if I told you not to help, so at least think well about what you"re going to do and only then go into action! I"ve told you just recently!"
"Ah, calm down, Shou. Your brother is properly thinking even when acting stupidly."
"No! I"m sure you were just improvising after you"ve started moving, right?! That"s why you end up with unnecessary injuries!! With your strength, you generally should be able to do something without getting injured, Bro!"
"G-grumble." [TL/N: Probably his stomach lol]
"Don"t you grumble me here!"
S-s.h.i.t. He didn"t let me change the subject.
We were still in the supermarket"s office.
After that, my old man who got lost finally somehow randomly found his way here and arrived in his car, then was led into the office while smiling thoughtlessly.
When I got up from the folding chair to thank my old man briefly, the figure of an angry Shouhei whose hair stood on ends made me stiffen.
"Sh-Shouhei? Look, for now it seems that Kunpei helped another person, so praise him a bit? Okay?"
My old man was calming Shouhei down.
The most reasonable person in our house was Shouhei, who was managing all ch.o.r.es by himself despite being the youngest child.
The things he says are always correct and direct.
"Dad, you should be angry here!! If this goes on, bro is going to die like an idiot one day while trying to help someone! He"s an idiot, after all!"
"Shou, no matter what, your brother will cry. Being told that he"s an idiot by his younger brother… I really will cry."
No, seriously.
After all, I"m the one who"s the best aware that I"m an idiot.
"What"s wrong with telling an idiot brother that he"s an idiot!? I was worried because you were taking so long to come back!"
T-that"s quite reasonable!
Alright, please scold your brother to your heart"s content!
"U-um…"
Suddenly, a feminine voice came from the inner part of the room.
After turning around, it turned out that Aoinoun, who was still hugging the twins, was looking here with an expression as if she was on the verge of tears.
"P-please don"t blame Kunpei-san. It"s thanks to him that I and the children are safe. I-I was the one who dragged him into it, so I"m the one in the wrong."
It seems like she was pressured by Shouhei"s savage angry look.
I know that feeling! After all, I"m also afraid of my younger brother.
"…Please explain."
I was saved by Aoinoun"s modic.u.m of courage!
Shouhei, who poured himself some cold water to cool off his anger, started emitting steam as he cooled down.
…That was a metaphor, of course!
"Ah. Mister, please let me explain. This way, we should be able to hear each other out calmly."
Dog Officer-san. The cool lady, aka Officer Maggie Doge, stepped in to mediate with a clamor.
[TL/N: Author-san sure loves his puns :3 clamor also means bow-wow (barking)… and he even directly called her a dog here lol]
I got to know her name a while ago.
"You as well, please calm down. Here, sit down."
Giving him the canned juice he bought in the supermarket, the human officer-san drew Shouhei"s attention to a nearby folding chair.
By the way, Inoue"s first name was Toshio. He was a middle-aged guy with a big build that would suit a black belt.
[TL/N: I"ve been hesitating about this surname, Inokami/Inoue. But after some additional research, it seems that the former is rare, but the latter very common, so… changing his surname]
The pouting Shouhei nodded once and sat down on the folding chair.
Our old man who saw it breathed out in relief and sat down on the neighboring folding chair.
"Then, Officer-san. Please go ahead." Our old man asked Officer Doge to start talking.
"Yes, so…"
The explanation continued… continued… continued…
"…And so, thanks to Kunpei-kun, the kidnappers were caught and the twins hatched safely."
With Officer Doge"s cleverness and eloquence, she didn"t even take 10 minutes to describe the whole crazy story. Kudos.
"How sneaky… I can"t be angry anymore, can I…" Shouhei murmured his complaint.
"No, please get angry at Kunpei-kun"s recklessness. After all, one misstep and he"d have ended up dead."
"B-but, I"m really grateful! He even helped me hatch these children. I don"t know how I should express my grat.i.tude."
After Officer Doge declared my death sentence, Aoinoun voiced her formal objection.
I"m saved! Help me!
"Mm. Well, fifty-fifty. Kunpei, after you get back from the hospital, I"m going to hit you once. It"ll be your punishment for making us worry. Accept your fate and take it. Then, well, I"ll praise you," my old man said as he pointed at me with his finger.
Well, it can"t be helped, I guess. After all, I"m responsible for a lot of it.
It is not underserved.
"Roger that. I"ll prepare myself."
Due to Shouhei, being hit was a much more acceptable punishment rather than becoming a sandbag in front of the right straight also known as reasonable argumentation.
If I get careless and suffer the former, I won"t be able to recover for a whole week.
"Shou too, got it?"
"…Um."
Shouhei nodded slightly.
What a relief. After all, where could you find a man owned by his younger brother?!
"Fu, fuee."
"Ah, s-she woke up."
The baby in Aoinoun"s arms became unsettled.
Her horns are straight… she"s the older sister, huh.
Fl.u.s.tered, she started swaying and rocking.
"Aah! Byaaaah!"
After taking a deep breath, she burst with all she acc.u.mulated at once. What did she acc.u.mulate? Her crying voice, of course.
"Bi, fuaah, gyaaaah!"
Surprised by her voice, the baby with curling horns also burst into tears. It"s the younger sister.
"Aaah! The younger sister too! Hey, it"s okay~! You were surprised, weren"t ya~? Here, mom will give you a hug~!"
Aoinoun was holding the twins with both arms, so she was fl.u.s.tered as she couldn"t move easily.
She started giving me glances. For some reason, I found myself approaching them.
"Look, Papa came too~."
"No, like I said, this papa thing…"
Just why? We"ve met for the first time today!
"That stuff aside, Kunpei-san, please carry them too."
Not only did the twins cry without stopping, she, too, made a face as though she was about to burst into tears.
It can"t be helped. I"ll help out.
"Here."
I"ve extended the safer left hand and received younger sister from Aoinoun. Rather than using my right hand still wrapped in the cloth sack, I used the right arm as a support to hold the baby with the left hand.
"Byaaaah! Fuaaaah!"
"Hey, hey, what happened? Did you have a scary dream?"
Shaking her body slightly, I tried to rock her.
When Shouhei was small, as long as I rocked him, he"d stop crying… though I"ve always done it while sitting, not standing.
However, it was completely ineffective.
"Hm. She"s probably hungry?"
My old man, who approached without me noticing, brushed away my shirt the girl was wrapped in.
"Yep. There"s something off down there. I knew it, she"s hungry."
[TL/N: I"m guessing he checked out her belly and somehow noticed it was empty or something along those lines… not a parent myself yet so dunno]
Compared to me, my old man was the one with real achievements in rising kids. It should be a rather reliable information.
"Well, you"ve heard him…"
I have reiterated those words to Aoinoun.
"K-Kunpei-san. What do babies eat?"
"Eh?"
You"re asking me?
"ah, w-well, that, if it"s human infants, then after they"re born, it can only be that, right."
"But, those kids are dragons. Also, what is that?"
Aoinoun looked at me blankly.
"B-by saying that, I mean, well, that. You know… Officer Doge!"
I was too embarra.s.sed to say it myself.
If it"s a woman, she should be able to say it without any problem.
Please help me, officer!
"There"s no need to be shy. After all, you"ve drunk it too when you were small."
That"s true, but, well, you know~
"Aoinoun-san, I don"t know about baby dragons, but human and beastmen babies are growing on their mother"s milk."
Phew! As expected, she could be relied on!
"Mother"s milk?"
[TL/N: Doge said it with kanji, and Aoinoun in kana… in other words, she heard the word right but has no idea what it could refer to.]
However, Aoinoun didn"t get it.
"It"s breast milk. Sis, milk produced from b.r.e.a.s.t.s is the mother"s milk."
As expected of the handsome guy, Shouhei-kun. He just went and said it.
No, wait. His face is good, so it didn"t sound lewd coming from him at all.
The handsome guys are not guilty theory turns out to be true.
"Breast milk…"
Aoinoun fell into deep thought.
Meanwhile, the twins continued to cry. Somehow, I get uselessly fl.u.s.tered listening to it.
"Ah, that…"
Aoinoun looked at me with a rather anxious face.
What might it be?
"I wonder, will milk come out from my b.r.e.a.s.t.s?"
"Like I know!!!"
W-w-w-what the h.e.l.l was she talking about, this woman?!
There"s no way in h.e.l.l that I, who only ever touched a woman"s breast as an infant, could have any data to answer that!
"Rest a.s.sured , Aoi! It will come out alright!"
Eh?
Somehow, I"ve heard an unfamiliar voice from somewhere really close by.
"Yo, it"s been a long time! Dragon Soukyuu! Aoinoun who"s beloved by the sky!"
T-too loud! [TL/N: Can also mean annoying or shut up, and I"m saying that coz all 3 fit… which may be on purpose]
From the right, I heard a voice which was way too loud.
Without thinking, I turned my neck to the right.
"Where there are dragons, I am there too! The [Busybody] Alba Gelman thus appears before you! I"ve made you wait!"
On my right shoulder was a rat holding a staff.