As my ears, now fully used to the voice of cicadas, pick up a sound aside from the wind rustling tree leaves, my consciousness dazedly comes to wake.
Finally… did Tsudzura-chan come back?
As I try to stand, a swirling dizziness.
The act of sweating alone consumes calories, which makes it especially important to eat during summer, but I still haven’t even had breakfast.
Kei: Tsudzura-cha~n, are you back—?
Tsudzura: Ye~ss, I have returned—!
To my inquiry from that spot (I gave up on going to the entrance hall), an answer returns.
Tsudzura: I need to wipe your legs, Obana-chan, so no can do. Hold position here until I come back with a hand towel, okay?
Before long, with footfalls much akin to a Sumo wrestler, Tsudzura-chan——
——or rather, an object the likeness of a suitcase grown legs, reveals itself before me.
Kei: Welcome home. That’s an amazing suitcase you’re carrying.
Tsudzura: I thought I might impose upon you some more agreeable living conditions, and went out to town to do some shopping.
With about a forty-five degree pivot on her vertical axis, Tsudzura-chan peeks her face from the shadow of the luggage.
*dosu!*——
With hulking footsteps ill-fitting to her diminutive frame, she walks forward.
Kei: ……A little late to say, but can I help you carry that?
Tsudzura: No, no, it is not so daunting as to require your assistance. Please just sit a spell, as would befit your landlady station, Onee-san.
Kei: Really? But it’s amazing you were able to make it here with all that.
Tsudzura: It is because I’ve been forced into bearing unbearable weights since long ago, you see. Compared to that…
Kei: Wow. That must have been tough.
Tsudzura: It was tough, indeed. Compared to my life in that family, you would not imagine how heavenly it is to live out here.
Kei: Really? That must be one awful place……
Tsudzura: That is true. It is not a family I would construe as commonplace……
If families that forced their tiny children into lone journeys were commonplace, then weak humans like myself certainly couldn’t live in this world.
Tsudzura: By the way, were you taking an afternoon nap, Kei-oneesan?
Kei: Not really, I was just spacing out a little.
In the end, the hunger became too much, and before I knew it, my body had switched itself into energy conservation mode.
I was resuscitated with Tsudzura-chan’s return, but whatever the case, you’ve got to conserve your energy.
Kei: Hey, Tsudzura-chan. Out of all the stuff you bought, could any of it be edible, by any chance? Tsudzura: Of course. Tonight will be a bit of a feast, actually.
Kei: Tonight? Could I ask you a question?
Tsudzura: Certainly. I wouldn’t say I’m not self-conscious of my knowledge regarding many different subjects, but as long as it remains in my capacity to answer, please ask at your leisure—
Kei: Tsudzura-chan, did you have any breakfast or lunch?
Tsudzura: Only in combination, but I did eat them—
Kei: ——!?
Heartbroken, I let my hands fall to the floor.
Tsudzura: ……Hello, Kei-oneesan?
My stomach answers in my place.
Tsudzura: Could it be, Onee-san, that you’ve yet to eat lunch?
Kei: Breakfast, too……
Tsudzura: ……Could it be that you’ve undertaken one of those diets one hears so much about?
Kei: I’m not…… I thought we would eat together, so I was just waiting for you……
Tsudzura: …………
One moment of silence.
Tsudzura: P-p-p-please forgive my brazen discourtesy—!!
After noisily slamming her two palms to the floor, she prostrates herself with force enough to wear her forehead ragged.
Tsudzura: Of all people, to think you would give such consideration to this impudent freeload trespasser unwelcome by any other standard, my utterly thoughtless conduct is ba——!!
She exhausts a mess of apologies in one breath, from many different positions of prostration.
Tsudzura: Yes, Onee-san, there is food! I have famous brands of nutrient-optimized foodstuffs, all sorts of canned goods, and there are also biscuits, candies, and jam, okay!?
After she lifts her face much like a jack-in-the-box, she produces the named items from the case at her side, and lines them up before me one-by-one.
Kei: ……A feast?
This is one of those really awkward moments.
Well, it’s true that it’ll fill my stomach, and I can probably glean some nutrition out of it……
Tsudzura: Umm, is there something that is not to your liking—— wait, I forgot to take out the water—!
As if being handed a prize, I find a 2-liter PET bottle shoved into my hands.
Kei: ……Ahaha, thank you.
As I accept it, it feels profoundly heavy in my arms.
——————–
Kei: Phew, that did the trick… Gochisousama~ (TN: A traditional phrase to end a meal, much like “itadakimasu” is said at the beginning. Basically means, “that was a feast!” or “what a treat!” Expresses gratitude to the provider, the cook, the farmers, the soil and rain, etc.)
Tsudzura: It was but a meager somatsu-sama. (TN: Osomatsusama – an ill-prepared offering. As the provider, Tsudzura gives a humble response.)
Packing away the empty boxes and aluminum wrap, already we rush past this one day’s meal. Thus I come to taste this life of poverty.
What’s more, even though I suspected its high expense, it turns out more severe than I thought. Were I to put it bluntly, Tsudzura-chan is a really bad shopper.
The price tags all read at suggested retail, not a one of them marked down.
Kei: Uu~
Tsudzura: Onee-san, is something the matter?
Kei: Ah…… well… lessee. Tsudzura-chan, didn’t it cost you a lot of money to buy all of this?
Tsudzura: Mmn— I wouldn’t say it cost very much.
Kei: Really? I’ll pay whatever I can.
Tsudzura: Oh no, any such expense you can consider the cost of lodging. In fact, I can pay rent, if you like.
Kei: It’s okay, don’t worry about that. I can’t take money for letting you stay in a place like this.
Tsudzura: But I do have plenty of money. If you only knew the sum, Kei-oneesan, it would probably surprise you.
Kei: In that case, consider it covered with your shopping today, okay?
This must mean that Tsudzura-chan’s parents aren’t so ruthless as to send her out with only the clothes on her back…
…come on, Kei, they aren’t oni, for crying out loud.
Kei: But Tsudzura-chan, if you have so much money, why are you staying in a place like this?
Tsudzura: Well as you can see, I am but a lowly minor, with an animal companion, no less.
Kei: ……Come to think of it, what happened to Obana-chan?
Tsudzura: Tahaha…… I forgot all about him.
At full speed, she darts from the living room.
Apparently he’s still waiting at the entrance, just like she ordered when they came in.
…………
Wow… Obana-chan is a good fox, isn’t he?