Chapter 148: Let’s Go on a Family Vacation! (3)

“Kunpei, pull a little more in that direction.”

“Okay, how’s this?”

I pulled the rope in my right hand as my father instructed.

Being careful not to overstretch the slack rope, I minutely adjusted the rope in my left hand.

“Hm, I guess that’s about right. Hey, elementary school kids! The hammock is ready!”

“It’s a hammock, Kou-chan!”

“Nya?”

Shouhei and Koji, who were called by father, came running up to us.

Koji didn’t seem to understand, while Shouhei seemed happy.

Don’t you know what a hammock is? If you’re camping outside, you’d love to have a hammock! Doesn’t it tickle your childlike interest!

“Come on, come on, let’s have some fun in the unknown comfort of a hammock, kids!”

At father’s excited urging, Shouhei and Koji touched the fascinating bedding hanging in front of them to check it out.

From the looks of it, it doesn’t look very stable, does it? My dad and I checked it a few times while we set it up, so I’m sure it’s fine.

This hammock, set up with a large tree branch and a pole driven into the ground, seems to have been borrowed from one of my father’s colleagues.

It was the result of my father’s unconcealed anticipation for this trip, and he told everyone about it.

He’s like a child, really.

Shouhei started to climb into the hammock cautiously. It seems that his curiosity won out over the hammock’s unstable appearance.

He looks happy with a rarely seen childlike twinkle in his eyes.

I’m glad I came just to see Shouhei like this. He seems to be busy with housework, homework, and school every day, doesn’t he?

I was surprised at how easy it was to set up. I thought hammocks were a bit more complicated than that.

“Kunpei-san! I’ve almost finished cleaning upstairs!”

I looked up at the sound of a voice from above me and saw Aoi peeking out from the second floor balcony.

I responded by raising my right hand.

“Oh! I’m almost done with the first floor! Come down and let’s eat!”

“Yes, I’m coming down!”

Waving her hands and tail, Aoi disappeared from the balcony.

“You can finally take a break now, Dad.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t too dirty. You have enough futons and stuff, right?”

“It’s fine.”

I wasn’t expecting a bed mat.

I had prepared enough bed covers for all of us and air mattresses I bought at a home hardware store. It was a cheap one, but it would be fine for a couple of nights.

We arrived at the cottage early in the morning and quickly started cleaning up the accommodation.

Our house has been cleaned several times in the past year.

Before and after the move, after the tusk crag incident and the creation of Rouge’s room, that’s four times?

I’m sure the efficiency of the work will increase.

I’m not sure if it’s just her age or what, but Yuri-san is also a very good cleaner.

It’s great that we were able to finish the cleaning much sooner than expected, because of the prompt directions given to Officer Inoue, Officer Doggy, Mikuma and the Saeki siblings.

“Wow! This is nice!”

“Is that a hammock? It has a nice atmosphere.”

Two girls came out of the cottage.

Saeki reacted with her cat ears perking up and Mikuma followed behind her, looking interested.

“Nii!”

“This is amazing, Chika-neechan. It’s a strange floating feeling.”

The elementary school students, already captivated by the hammock, swayed back and forth.

Both of these guys were small, so there was plenty of room for the two of them in the hammock.

“Koji, me too, me too!”

“Nihihi! Blehhh.”

Koji stuck out his tongue in a aggravating way at Saeki’s begging.

I’m not sure why you’re going to go out of your way to pick a fight you can’t win.

“Oh, you’re getting carried away my foolish brother! Punishment time!”

“Ni! Nyeeeeeeeeeh!”

“Whoa! Ichika-neechan, it’s dangerous! Don’t shake it!”

“Ichika-chan, don’t shake it too much or you’ll make Shouhei-kun and the others feel sick.”

Saeki shook the hammock with an evil smile on her face.

Mikuma, who heard Shouhei’s scream, stopped her with a wry smile.

Well, everyone is enjoying themselves.

“Kazamachi-san. How’s this?”

“Oh, Toshio-kun. You work fast. Well, I’ve never used a wood stove before, so I don’t know anything about it.”

Officer Inoue, who had been struggling with the chimney stove for a while, called my father.

“Dad is always trying to get in the mood, if you ask Rouge to do something like this, she’ll be able to do it in one go.”

Rouge, who is an arc dragon, can freely control fire, so it should be a piece of cake for her.

You don’t have to do anything complicated like this, I’m not sure why you’re using kindling to start a fire nowadays.

“You idiot. In times like this, you have to enjoy the atmosphere to the fullest. Look at this forest and the large river! To enjoy this nature to the fullest, you can’t just rely on convenient equipment! If I could just use a gas stove, I’d do it in the yard.”

You don’t have to be that insistent.

“Haha. It’s a little hard for young people to understand, isn’t it? In times like this, the right thing to do is to enjoy the unusual. By doing something different from the norm.”

“Toshio-kun, this little boy still can’t understand the wabi-sabi of adults. Oh, what a pity. Is this what you call kids of today?”

You’re a middle-aged man, you know that? Normally, I’d get upset and argue with you, but you know what? I’m a guy who’s starting to climb the stairs to adulthood. So I’m going to hold back and let the old man have his moment.

“Shouhei-kun, I’m not sure if we’ll be able to fit all the food in the fridge.”

“I wonder if we can use Kazamachi-san’s cooler box.”

Officer Doggy and Yuri-san appeared from the wooden deck by the kitchen on the first floor.

They were in charge of the kitchen with Shouhei, and were currently organizing the large amount of food we had brought in.

It looks like Shouhei was released to go play because he was fidgety, right?

“Ah, that’s fine. The red box is empty, and there’s ice in the blue one.”

“All right. I think a cooler box is better than a refrigerator for alcohol, don’t you?”

“I’ll take care of the drinks, Mom.”

Officer Doggy’s face became serious.

When I was at Rouge’s welcome party, I thought to myself, that person drinks a lot.

She drank about four times as much as my dad.

“Man, that’s still a lot of food.”

“I also got some from Saeki-san and Mikuma-san, I hope that was alright?”

When we went to pick up the Saeki siblings and Mikuma in the early morning before the sun came up, their parents forced a large amount of food on us.

Yuri-san and Officer Inoue also brought some food with them, so there’s enough food here for about a dozen people.

“It’s all right, father-in-law. You’ve always taken care of me. Please at least let me do this much.”

Mikuma smiled at my father.

But I was glared at by your father, wasn’t I?

I’m sure he doesn’t have a very good impression of me…

“Yuuno’s father loves his daughter very much, just as much as you love Jaja-chan and Nana-chan.”

“Saeki-san. Can you please stop reading my thoughts?”

Why are the girls around me so easily able to see through my thoughts like this?

It’s scary.

“I guess that’s what happens to most fathers who have daughters.”

“That’s true. My husband also had a tough time when he was alive. When my eldest daughter got married, it was terrible.”

“Nee-san and brother-in-law looked so discouraged.”

Yuri-san and Officer Doggy agreed with my father, who nodded his head with his arms crossed.

Well, I understand the feeling.

I don’t know what I’d do if Jaja or Nana grew up and suddenly brought their boyfriend along.

Worst case scenario, I might go on a rampage.

“Uncle, you don’t have to worry about my parents, our family is very grateful to Shouhei for Koji.”

“Me?”

“Nii?”

Shouhei and Koji looked up from the hammock because Saeki suddenly mentioned their names.

Ah, I see.

If I had grown in Koji’s times, it would have been very difficult for me.

It was none other than my brother, who brought him down to the level of the mischievous little boy he is today.

Somehow, I think I can understand the Saeki family’s feelings toward Shouhei.

But how did he manage to get such a rambunctious kid to be so quiet?

I’ll ask him in secret later.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time!”

“Dah!”

“Uwa?”

Hmm?

Aoi was holding Jaja and Rouge was holding Nana wile standing on the wooden deck.

The twins were wrapped in bath towels, it looked like they couldn’t calm down and were squirming around.

“You’re late, Aoi. What happened?”

“Fufufu, I was with Ru-anesama, dressing Jaja and Nana in these!”

Aoi smiled somewhat fearlessly.

She’s also very excited, isn’t she?

It’s good that she’s having fun, though.

“Ta-da!”

In contrast, Rouge’s voice was not filled with much emotion, and she peeled the bath towel off Nana.

“Dah.”

“S-she’s so cute!”

I gulped.

There she was, wearing a one-piece swimsuit with a white flower pattern.

Her short tail and small wings made her look like an angel and her chubby legs and smooth arms were just so cute!

I’m sure you’ll agree that Nana’s adorableness knows no bounds.

“She’s cute!”

“Wow.”

“Wow.”

Dad reacted exaggeratedly, and Yuri-san clapped her hands together in surprise.

Only Shouhei was cooler than expected, which was a little disappointing, but each of us had our own reactions.

“Yep, I thought it looked good when they tried it on at the store, it’s very fitting.”

“Jaja-chan as well.”

Huh? Did Mikuma and Saeki know about this?

“Here we go!”

“Kya!”

“Whoa!”

Jaja laughed exaggeratedly, probably amused by the movement of the bath towel being stripped off her.

It was a pink one-piece swimsuit with a matching pattern to Nana’s. It was equally adorable.

Ah, I’m so glad I came!

“Yes! It’s a cheap one, but it was worth the time I spent choosing it! What do you think, Kazamachi?”

“Aoi-chan, Rouge-san, and I secretly bought it at a nearby mass retailer the other day. It looks good on them, doesn’t it?”

Saeki and Mikuma were grinning at me.

Ah, come to think of it.

There was a time when Aoi and Rouge took Jaja and Nana out for a walk in the evening.

When I said I would go with them, they refrained from doing so in a very strong manner.

I was kind of shocked, but I guess that’s why.

“By the way, we also brought swimsuits too, so look forward to it, okay?”

“Eh?”

What did you just say, Saeki-san?

“We’re going to play in the river tomorrow, so don’t worry about it for today.”

“Wait a minute, Saeki.”

After saying something that was hard to ignore, Saeki walked toward the cottage with a grin on her face.

Eh? Swimsuit?

We?

I looked over at Mikuma standing next to me.

“… Yeah. I did my best. I’ll be happy… if you liked it.”

“Ah, yeah.”

With her face gradually turning bright red, Mikuma also hurried to the cottage.

“Of course, me too, you know?”

“Dah!”

“Uwah!”

I was surprised to see Aoi and Jaja nearby before I knew it.

What a surprise! I didn’t notice them at all!

“Hmm. By the way, I bought one too.”

“Au?”

Rouge, who was holding Nana, quietly approached me.

“You too, Rouge?”

Ha!

That means!

I realized something and quickly turned around.

Aoi and Rouge didn’t have swimsuits.

That meant they had recently purchased them.

I hadn’t given the money to Aoi, which meant that there was someone else who had provided the money!

It could only be one person!

“Fufu, you reacted just as I imagined you would.”

You knew and you didn’t tell me!

“You’re a little more naive than you think, you know that? I thought it would be fun, so I helped you out. You were caught off guard, weren’t you?　It’s not the ocean, so you didn’t expect swimsuits, did you?

A-ah…

Recently, I was finally able to endure Aoi’s closeness to me and Mikuma’s aggressive appeal…

And then Rouge joined in, and even Saeki as an extra…

“Kunpei-san.”

“Huh?”

I turned around when Aoi called me.

Aoi, her cheeks slightly dyed, moved her face closer to mine and opened her mouth next to my ear.

“You have to be prepared, okay?”

With a sexy whisper, Aoi’s sweet voice shook my eardrums.