BXBX NOVEL Chapter 25: Prayer
Chapter 25: Prayer
“Yuuki-kuuuuuun!”
“Onii-chaaaaaaaaaaan!”
“Yuuki-chaaaaaaaan!”
“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
I woke up to a cry.
When I opened my eyes, I found Mizuna, dressed in an apron and pajamas with a megaphone pointed at me by my bedside.
“Ah, he’s up! That’s no good, Yuuki-kun, you can’t keep sleeping like that!”
As Yuuki frowned and rubbed his eyes, Mizuna showered his ears with high-pitched sounds.
I was very tired today. I know why, and it’s because I was being nice to Yui yesterday.
In my experience, it’s unusually tiring to go into gentle brother mode. If I was able to use it all the time, it wouldn’t be this hard to deal with Mizuna.
“Heyyyy, little buddy, Are you alive?”
“The strain of smiling yesterday was too much…”
“Yuuki-kun… you’ve crossed the 100% line.”
It’s been a while since I overworked my cheeks, and my muscles were sore.
When I overdo it, it recoils and I go into a deprived mode. It could be said to be the true nature of the situation.
I seemed to have recovered somewhat from last night’s sleep, but Yuuki still thought it was too much to ask of him.
Yuuki turned his back to Mizuna and turned over, closing his eyes again.
“Good night.”
“No, Yuuki-kun! It’s ten o’clock!”
“I’m sleepy.”
“Not good, Yuuki-kun went into lethargic mode!”
Mizuna, who straddled Yuuki, stretched his cheek with her hand.
At first, it was only a caress on the cheek, but over time it became more and more powerful.
It wasn’t proportional, but more like a quadratic formula. If he didn’t wake up, he would probably die.
“Wake up! You’ll die if you sleep!”
“All right, I’m up. I’m up.”
When I opened my eyes and sat up, Mizuna was just about to leap onto my upper body.
That was a close call.
“Yuuki-kun, you’re awake! FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
Mizuna rolled around on the bed.
It was originally a double-sized bed that my father and mother used to use, and it was quite large for one person.
It was supposed to be Yuuki’s room for now, but the bed occupied most of the room and it didn’t feel like his own room.
“Do that outside.”
“With a typhoon coming? You’re a devil, Yuuki-kun.”
“It’s not that bad, Mizuna.”
My cheeks were tingling. I was relentlessly attacked on the left side of my cheek.
If I looked in a mirror, it would definitely be turning red.
When I got out of bed and opened the curtains, there were drops of water sticking to the window.
It was raining outside, and the wind was blowing. The forecast for a direct hit from the typhoon seemed to have come true.
It was unlikely that I would be able to step out of the house.
Good thing I went shopping.
I bought some food at the supermarket yesterday.
I was glad it’s Saturday and there was no school today, but I’m sure if there was it would have been delayed or cancelled anyways.
“Come on, Yuuki-kun, breakfast is ready.”
Mizuna pulled Yuuki over to the living room.
I thought she would have gotten bored by now since she didn’t do anything yesterday, but apparently her playing housekeeping was still going on.
“Wait a second.”
I was seated in a chair, and there was a glass of milk and a single banana lying haphazardly on the table. It was oddly surreal.
At any rate, I brought the glass to my mouth. It was very tepid.
“When was the last time you did this?”
“It was a while ago.”
“I’m pretty sure I’ll have to deal with it differently.”
“It’s because Yuuki-kun didn’t wake up earlier.”
As I waited with a very bad feeling, Mizuna brought in a plate from the kitchen.
On the plate was a fried egg with two yolks on it.
“How is it? Mizuna made it.”
“It’s good. A little burnt, though.”
“It needs to be cooked through.”
I prefer it to be runny.
Well, that’s okay, but it’s a little hard to miss the milky white substance that’s around the egg.
“This is…”
“I put some mayonnaise on it.”
“This isn’t karaage you know…”
Yuuki thought that soy sauce was the only choice for fried eggs.
I couldn’t complain, so I shut up and started eating.
In the meantime, Mizuna took the liberty of peeling the banana, but it was a weird image.
Still, since cooked it for me, I ate up everything.
“Thanks for the food.”
After his late breakfast, Yuuki came out of the living room and went to the six tatami room in the back.
Nowadays, my father sleeps here on the futon when he comes home, so Yuuki and Mizuna basically never use this room.
After my mother passed away, my father suddenly became interested in spiritual concepts.
He said that this Japanese style room gave off the best vibes and energy, and he loves it here.
In addition, he often visited power spots and collects sketchy items as a byproduct of his visits.
There were amulets, jeweled arrows, shrine shelves, natural stones, bracelets, cards, and other things that I don’t recognize. He also burns strange aromas, so the scent is left to seep in.
At the back of the brazier in the room is a storage room, where my father’s personal belongings that weren’t able to be placed in the room were.
When Yuuki opened it and searched through the drawers of the cupboard inside.
“Yuuki-kun, what are you doing?”
I heard Mizuna’s voice from behind me, and she peeked into the room.
Mizuna has taken off her pajamas before Yuuki knew it and is now in her underwear.
“Put your clothes on.”
“Yuuki-kun, you’re always saying that.”
“Put your clothes on.”
“Hey, hey, what are you doing?”
“Put your clothes on.”
I won’t deal with her until he put something on top. I used to pamper her, but I still need to draw a clear line.
It’s not as if she’s given up, but she came back with one of her T-shirts.
As usual, it’s long enough that you couldn’t see her panties.
“That’s my T-shirt…”
“Mu ho ho.”
“No, not mu ho ho.”
Mizuna suddenly turned around as she remembered something, and when she turned to the right, she sat down by the altar in the corner of the room.
Although it was a Buddhist altar, it was simple enough that Yuuki could hold it with both hands. There was a picture of my mother and the picture I took with my family next to each other.
“I didn’t do any praying today.”
Although the word “prayer” might have been misleading, Mizuna had a habit of facing the altar at least once a day.
It was the same for Yuuki. He sat alongside Mizuna and faced the altar with her.
“Mom would cry if she saw you dressed like that.”
“I don’t get along with my brother’s clothes.”
It seemed that Mizuna remembered mother saying, “Make friends with your brother,” but she seems to have misunderstood her a bit.
I suddenly remembered the old Mizuna, who was crying and wouldn’t leave the photo, and I couldn’t say anything else.
Mizuna clasped her hands together and closed her eyes tightly. Yuuki lightly closed his eyes and followed suit.
“Yuuki-kun, what did you pray about?”
“No, it’s not a shrine.”
When Yuuki got up, he started to rummage through the cabinets again.
Naturally, Mizuna was clinging to him.
“What is it? Another stone?”
“I made a mistake since Mizuna was disturbing me.”
“Huh? I wish I could start over if I missed it.”
“You say difficult things sometimes, don’t you?”
I started to get disturbed again and it was hard to find what I was looking for.
I mean, I couldn’t understand how things were messed up.
I tried to ask my father, but he told me last night that a typhoon was coming and he wouldn’t be back this week.
He seemed to be a little worried, so I decided to call him and ask him about the storage room.
I searched for my seldom used phone, wondering where I put it.
I found it left in my room and picked it up, noticing that I had received a message from Yui.
I tapped on it to check the contents.
(This is…)