“I will go.”
Saying this to Kaede, who was trying to stand up in reaction to the ringtone, I went towards the phone.
I picked up the receiver of telephone, situated at the end of living room and put it on my right ear.
“h.e.l.lo. This is Shinra.”
When I spouted off stereotypical words during the occasion of answering the phone, I heard a familiar voice from the receiver.
“Ah, I am a close friend of Minato-kun, Ogiwara Yuu-”
“…”
When I tried hearing it clearly, it felt like an unfamiliar voice. I hung up the call and put down the receiver.
I wonder if it was a fraud call…
Recently, these kind of calls have become quite common. Especially I wanted to warn my grandparents regarding this.
Concerning Shinra household, I want to be as careful as possible to not pick up these fraudulent toll-free calls.
Furthermore, I have also always examined our mail box… I have heard about frauds involving doc.u.ments, so I had to pay attention.
When I returned back to the seat for the sake of resuming my breakfast, the ringtone started playing again.
“h.e.l.lo. This is Shinra.”
“Please stop answering back, pretending as if nothing happened!”
“….Who am I possibly speaking to?”
“It is me! It’s Yuuto!”
“…There is no one called Yuuto in our house.”
As expected, it was a fraud call…
I wonder if recently, frauds involving using acquaintances have spread as well.
If it was someone else’s name and not Yuuto, there was a high possibility of being deceived.
As I was separating the receiver from my ear and putting it down, a hand thinner and whiter than mine, extended from the side.
“That’s no good, Nii-san! It is a call from Yuuto-san, right?”
Kaede took the receiver from me and putting it to her ear, answered the call.
“The call receiver has changed. Kaede here.”
Kaede cheerfully greeted and began talking with Yuuto. After a short while, she took out a memo pad from the desk where the telephone was kept and starting writing something on it.
Meanwhile, I returned to my seat and while eating breakfast, peeked at the ongoing situation.
Kaede occasionally nodded as a reply and kept writing something over and over in the memo pad. This act continued approximately for 5 minutes till the call finished.
“It seems that the gathering tomorrow, is at the cafe in front of station at 9 am.”
Kaede, who came back to the next seat, explained the contents of her conversation with Yuuto and started drinking the coffee which had already cooled down.
Gathering at 9 AM, huh…
From my point of view, it is a bit too early but I wonder if it is the right time for normally going and hanging out at the amus.e.m.e.nt park.
Although it won’t be in time for the opening of park, I guess there would be enough time to enjoy there.
“Hmm…”
I nodded lightly to Kaede’s explanation and finished my meal while talking. After carrying my dishes to the sink, I threw myself on the sofa.
It is still to early to start getting ready.
While there was no sleepiness, yesterday’s fatigue still remained so I decided to rest as I laid my body.
Kaede, who finished her breakfast later, began washing our used dishes alongside the cookware.
Kaede hummed as she washed the dishes. After she finished cleaning the portion of dishes, worth of two people, she approached the front of sofa in a jog.
She raised my head from the sofa and putting it on her lap, reclined at the sofa while smiling.
“….Kaede-san? Why this arrangement?”
“I read it in a book yesterday that guys like it when they receive this.”
“What kind of book, were you reading…”
It was not wrong.
While it was certainly not wrong, it was different between a brother and sister.
More than being pleased, I felt embarra.s.sed.
Kaede seemed delighted, brushing my hair gently with her hands left and right. Brushing it off, I raised my body.
“Let’s sit, after all.”
“Since one will become a cow, if they lie down immediately after eating.1”
I corrected my posture after sitting. While the two of us were sitting shoulder to shoulder intimately, I decided to appreciate the uninteresting morning programs being broadcasted on TV.
I watched the morning drama which had been popular recently, but since I don’t watch it usually, I wasn’t able to understand anything.
But it was a good way to kill time.
In the blink of an eye, an hour had pa.s.sed while following the drama.
“Should I change my clothes soon…”
“Then I would also finish the work I need to, before going out.”
I temporarily went back to my room for changing clothes. Kaede, for the sake of finishing several tasks before shopping, went to the bathroom first.
I went to the closet in my room and among the few western clothes, I picked one that had been prepared by Kaede previously and changed into it. Afterwards, I picked up my smartphone from near my pillow.
When I checked my phone to see if there was any form of contact while it had been left in the room, I found two mails.
One of them was from Yuuto, giving the same information regarding tomorrow, he transmitted via the call this morning.
Similar to what Kaede said, “Cafe in front of station, meeting at 9 AM.” was written.
The other mail was from Kirasaka, who had somehow gained my mail address during the ball game tournament.
Actually I had requested something of her, few days ago and the mail was regarding that matter.
Only a single sentence, “No problem” was written.
Seeing that, I felt a sense of relief and replied back with “Thank you”. After replying, I put back the phone in my pocket.
Aside from changing clothes, I put on my wrist.w.a.tch and grabbed my wallet. I was finished with everything, in under 5 minutes.
Most of us had started setting our hair and taking care of appearances since becoming high school students. But in my case, the minimum I checked in front of mirror was if I didn’t have any bed hair and wouldn’t do anything else afterwards.
Occasionally, there were times I would try taking care of it properly, but since I don’t do it usually, I was not skilled at it. I had not even touched any hairdressing products, recently.
After checking today as well for bed hair in front of the mirror, I called out to Kaede, who was cleaning the bath.
“I have finished getting ready, but is there anything you need help with?”
“It is alright! I am already finished.”
Cleaning the foam in bathtub with shower, Kaede came out of the bathroom.
There seemed to be laundry as well but since there were also underwear, I was barred from helping. I went back to the living room again.
“…Free time.”
Since I had already changed clothes, I didn’t feel like lying down. But on the other hand, there was not enough time to go to convenience store alone to pa.s.s time.
By process of elimination, I went towards the big window in living room which connected to the garden. Opening it, I decided to watch the growing condition of the flowers on the flower bed, mother and Kaede had been raising since childhood.
T/N: I am back now but since I have increased workload now, I won’t be updating daily.
Footnotes1. Basically a j.a.panese proverb meaning, one will become lazy.