Hearing Asakawa Aoi's sudden strange cry, Asakawa Touka, who had been silently eating beside them, finally couldn't hold back.
Her willow brows knit tightly as she directly scolded Asakawa Aoi, "Aoi! Why are you shouting nonstop while eating? Can't you be a bit more polite and reserved?"
"I was wrong! I know I was wrong!", Asakawa Aoi admitted fault repeatedly, tears welling in her eyes.
Seeing Asakawa Aoi admit her mistake so directly for once, and with such a sincere attitude, Asakawa Touka found it hard to continue scolding her and lowered her head to eat in silence again.
Only Hikari knew that Asakawa Aoi's apology just now was probably not meant for Asakawa Touka, but for him.
After all, although the final result was that Asakawa Aoi got punished, the start of the whole battle had been provoked by her. An apology was only proper.
Seeing Asakawa Aoi, who earlier had been so smug and arrogant with that ridiculous grin, acting like a mischievous little devil, now sitting with her head lowered and pitifully eating her meal, and even not daring to pull back the hand she had stretched over to his side, obediently moving along with his rhythm, Hikari couldn't help but smile slightly.
Seeing the atmosphere at the table grow a bit stiff and awkward, Asakawa Suiren thought it was all because Asakawa Touka had just scolded Asakawa Aoi.
To liven things up, she smiled and picked up a piece of meat for each of the three of them.
"Here, Hikari-kun is a man, you should eat a bit more~"
After serving food to her mother and sister, the gentle and considerate Suiren picked up a piece of salmon and handed it to Hikari.
"Thank you, Suiren-nee."
Since Asakawa Aoi was still helping out below the table, Hikari smiled gratefully at Asakawa Suiren and didn't think too much about it.
He directly opened his mouth and bit onto the piece of salmon she offered. It had to be said that Asakawa Suiren not only had a great personality, but her cooking skills were excellent as well, her wife potential fully maxed out.
Ordinary salmon could be pan fried to a golden crisp outside and tender inside, tasting extremely good.
But unlike Hikari, who was seriously savoring the food, Asakawa Suiren's attention was instead on her own chopsticks.
She had originally meant to place the fish into Hikari's bowl, but unexpectedly, when Hikari bit into the salmon, he also bit onto her chopsticks.
This overly intimate action made Asakawa Suiren freeze for a moment, then she instinctively and lightly pulled her chopsticks back.
The crispy yet tender salmon naturally slid into Hikari's mouth, but her chopsticks were now stained with some clear, glistening liquid.
"Hikari-kun, you… how could you bite big sister's chopsticks directly!"
'Wouldn't that count as an indirect kiss?'
Asakawa Suiren felt shy, a faint blush rising on her fair cheeks.
Meanwhile, Hikari, who was still engaged in a direct one on one river solo duel with Asakawa Aoi beneath the tablecloth, had no time to care about something as trivial as an indirect kiss.
Feeling the long middle finger he usually kept on the R key to unleash his character's ultimate skill being tightly clamped by muscles that had suddenly tensed up, as if desperately trying to keep his finger trapped inside, the situation urgent, Hikari could only reply casually,
"Sorry, Suiren-nee. When we were kids, you always fed me directly to my mouth. Even now, I haven't managed to break that bad habit. Sorry."
"I-it's okay!", Hearing Hikari speak so sincerely, the gentle Asakawa Suiren naturally wouldn't pursue the matter. She directly expressed forgiveness, though her expression was slightly awkward when she put the food she picked up with her chopsticks into her mouth again.
Perhaps to avoid awkwardness, Asakawa Suiren picked food for Hikari several more times.
This time, Hikari behaved and lifted his bowl a little to receive it, not biting the chopsticks again. Of course, since only one hand was free, his movements were a bit slow.
Asakawa Touka, who had been eating with a cold expression the whole time, had remained silent until now.
But seeing Asakawa Suiren continue to serve food to Hikari, she finally couldn't help but speak up, "Suiren, Hikari-kun, you're both grown up now. You're not children anymore. You should pay attention to propriety."
"Yes, I understand, Aunt Touka," Hikari replied, faintly catching the implication in her words.
After hearing Hikari's response, Asakawa Touka nodded, then turned to Asakawa Suiren and said, "Suiren, you're already engaged. You can already be considered a future wife. This marriage may not have come easily, but you must cherish it."
"Yes, Mother," Asakawa Suiren nodded quickly in response to her mother's words.
'Hikari-kun won't be too hurt, right?'
After answering instinctively, Asakawa Suiren couldn't help but turn her head to look at Hikari, who had secretly liked her for many years. Seeing his left hand placed under the table, his arm seeming to tremble slightly as if he was emotionally agitated, she felt a bit nervous.
But when she saw that Hikari was still eating calmly, his expression relaxed and natural, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
'Hikari-kun should know where he stands. Besides, he already has Aoi. He probably doesn't care that much about me anymore.'
With complicated feelings, Asakawa Suiren turned her gaze toward Asakawa Aoi.
She saw her younger sister with her head lowered, shoveling rice from time to time, her shoulders occasionally trembling slightly. Asakawa Suiren simply thought she was upset over being scolded earlier by Asakawa Touka and didn't think too deeply about it.
After giving a few reminders, Asakawa Touka returned to eating her breakfast in silence, not saying another word.
After finishing every last grain of rice in her bowl and meticulously drinking all of her miso soup, Asakawa Touka quietly left the house.
Asakawa Suiren noticed that after Asakawa Touka left, both Hikari and Asakawa Aoi seemed to relax a bit.
Especially Asakawa Aoi, whose shoulders were shaking even more noticeably.
Asakawa Suiren guessed that her sister had probably been scared of their mother's mood earlier and now felt aggrieved and wanted to cry.
She immediately spoke up to comfort her, "Aoi, Mother was probably in a bad mood just now and said a few extra words. She didn't really mean to scold you. Don't take it too much to heart."
"Mm… ah! I understand, it's… it's fine… mm~", Asakawa Aoi raised her head slightly. Her eyes, filled with a springlike sheen, were a little red, and her pink, moist lips trembled faintly.
Seeing her sister Asakawa Aoi looking a bit emotionally out of control, and with Hikari present, Asakawa Suiren didn't really know how to continue comforting her.
To avoid awkwardness, she simply ignored it and let her adjust on her own, casually chatting with Hikari instead.
After a few casual sentences, Hikari asked curiously, "Suiren-nee, there's something I've been a bit curious about for a while. Can I ask?"
"What is it?", Asakawa Suiren lightly pressed her chopsticks to her lips, her alluring red mouth glistening with a pink sheen from the oil.
"It's just that the past few times I've come over, I haven't seen Uncle. Did something happen to him?", Hikari asked.
By Uncle, he meant Asakawa Suiren and Asakawa Aoi's father, Asakawa Touka's husband.
Hearing his question, Asakawa Suiren thought for a moment before explaining, "My… father?"
"He didn't have any accidents. It's just that he's been living separately from us for a long time now."
"I don't even remember how many years it's been. Anyway, after Aoi was born, Mother resigned from her job, saying she wanted to take care of the two of us. She always slept in our room with us. Father seemed to have some objections about her quitting, and he was often away on business trips, so in my memories it was always Mother accompanying us sisters to sleep."
"Then one day, Mother suddenly had a huge argument with Father. After that, he rarely came home, always saying he was on business trips or staying out. Later on, Father and Mother separated. Aoi and I have been living with Mother ever since."
"The place we lived before wasn't near your house, Hikari-kun. One of the reasons we moved here was because of that."
Hearing this, Hikari vaguely made a guess, "Did Uncle and Aunt have a falling out?"
Asakawa Suiren smiled and said, "Mm… he probably cheated and betrayed Mother."
Although Asakawa Touka had never said it explicitly to them, the three women had lived under the same roof for years, and with their parents separated for so long, it wasn't hard for Asakawa Suiren and Asakawa Aoi to guess the general situation.
"I see," Hikari nodded, not saying anything more.
"Mother has been very busy lately, probably handling the divorce or matters related to dividing assets. Her mood might not be very good. That's why she scolded Aoi and maybe didn't take enough care of you either, Hikari-kun. Please don't take it to heart," Asakawa Suiren added.
"It's fine, I understand," Hikari nodded, feeling that things made sense now.
'So Aunt Touka's relationship with Suiren and Aoi's father has broken down long ago, and it might even have been because of an affair.'
'No wonder I always felt that Asakawa Touka's brows carried a trace of sorrow, like a flower about to wither.'
Having seen many flowers, Hikari had developed a certain intuition in this regard.
He had previously thought Aunt Touka might just be reaching a certain age. After all, although she still looked as beautiful as ever on the outside, with a figure showing no issues at all, she was still a mature woman with two daughters. Aging would be normal.
He hadn't expected it to be because of family problems.
Thinking about it, given the extraordinary talent of Asakawa Aoi and Asakawa Suiren, the genes they inherited from Asakawa Touka must also be top tier. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't enter a withering phase so easily.
Perhaps the flower hadn't been watered for too long, which was why she looked so worn and dried up.
No wonder when Touka saw the already engaged Asakawa Suiren being somewhat close to him, she looked a bit unhappy. So that was the reason.
After roughly understanding the situation, Hikari didn't say much more. He casually chatted with Asakawa Suiren about their past life and occasionally shared some of his ordinary daily life in Tokyo, then sped up his pace of picking food.
Under Asakawa Suiren's cheerful gaze, Hikari used his chopsticks to pry open a scallop she had carefully cooked, quickly enjoyed it, and nodded in satisfaction.
Seeing his fingers soaked and glistening with scallop juice, even the pads turning a bit pale, Hikari felt somewhat awkward.
Not wanting to be improper in front of Asakawa Suiren, he directly wiped his fingers under the tablecloth before bringing them back up.
Asakawa Aoi, who had been a bit dizzy, felt her skirt hem suddenly being used as a hand towel. Her beautiful eyes, already tinged with a hint of charm, widened as she glared at Hikari in embarrassment and anger.
Hikari ignored her gaze.
He finally lifted his bowl with his left hand, quickly shoveling rice with the other.
He occasionally praised the food, and under Asakawa Suiren's happy gaze, swept all the breakfast in front of him clean.
Seeing Hikari eat everything she had cooked and eat so much of it, Asakawa Suiren felt very satisfied. This was complete recognition of her cooking, and her face was glowing with happiness.
But when she turned her head and saw Asakawa Aoi's bowl beside Hikari, which hadn't gone down much at all, she wasn't quite as happy.
"Aoi, why are you eating so slowly today? Hikari-kun has already finished, and you've only eaten a little," Asakawa Suiren asked.
"I… my appetite isn't very good today…", Asakawa Aoi, afraid of drying out, lifted her miso soup and took a big gulp, then replied to Asakawa Suiren with a flushed, awkward expression.
"I see… alright," Thinking of how Asakawa Aoi had been scolded earlier by Asakawa Touka, Asakawa Suiren roughly understood.
"Alright then, Hikari-kun, Aoi, since you're both done eating, you can just go. I'll take care of the dishes," Asakawa Suiren said quickly when she saw Hikari about to help wash up.
"Okay," Hikari nodded, "By the way, I'll still help you with some chores, Suiren-nee. I'll wipe the table, how about that?"
"Sure!", Hearing this, Asakawa Suiren felt he was really thoughtful and smiled so happily her eyes narrowed.
Hikari took a clean cloth from Asakawa Suiren and started wiping the table and chairs.
After wiping his own spot, Hikari moved to Asakawa Aoi's place and helped clean the messy areas she had dirtied while eating.
"Huh? Aoi, how did you manage to spill so much soup without noticing? Look, the tablecloth is soaked, and there's even a puddle on the floor. Really…"
Hikari complained a bit speechlessly while wiping up the mess Asakawa Aoi had carelessly made.
"I… I didn't do it on purpose!", Asakawa Aoi blushed and glared at Hikari in embarrassment, her beautiful eyes wide as if she wanted to eat him alive for exposing her.
Seeing Asakawa Aoi rare moment of breaking down, Asakawa Suiren couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh. The virtuous her asked, "Aoi spilled a lot of soup today? I added quite a bit of seasoning. Will it be hard to wipe? How about I help you wipe it too, Hikari-kun?"
"N-no need!", Before Hikari could answer, Asakawa Aoi rushed to speak first.
"Hm?", She had asked Hikari, hadn't she? Asakawa Suiren looked at Asakawa Aoi in confusion.
"I… I mean, Sister, you can focus on washing the dishes. I'll help Hikari-kun wipe it," Asakawa Aoi said casually, her face a bit red.
"So that's how it is…", Asakawa Suiren didn't think too much about it, smiling as she picked up the dishes and walked into the kitchen.
Once Asakawa Suiren left the dining area, Asakawa Aoi immediately helped Hikari seriously wipe up the water stains on the floor.
After all, making such a mess while eating really was childish behavior. It was too embarrassing and absolutely couldn't let her sister Asakawa Suiren know.
After wiping the floor, chairs, and the stains on the tablecloth, Asakawa Aoi stood up and wiped her forehead.
Seeing Hikari wiping his forehead on the other side as well, Asakawa Aoi stepped over to him and gritted her teeth as she said, "Hikari-kun, give my underwear back!"
Seeing the shame and anger in Asakawa Aoi's tone, and her beautiful eyes fixed tightly on his pocket, Hikari couldn't help but laugh.
"Hikari-kun, hurry up and give it back to me!", Asakawa Aoi pressed her pale hands against her skirt hem, looking at Hikari in embarrassment and annoyance.
"No, Aoi, aren't you being a bit too stingy? You have so many pairs. Are you really missing just this one? What's wrong with giving it to me?", Hikari lightly pressed his bulging pants pocket.
Inside was the spoils of war from their earlier river solo duel. Naturally, he didn't want to just return it for nothing.
"I am missing it! I really am! Give it back to me now!", Hearing his words, Asakawa Aoi was both embarrassed and angry, looking like she wanted to snatch it back.
"I took it with my own skills. Why should I give it back to you? If you keep making a fuss, I'll call Suiren-nee over to judge this fairly," Hikari said with a smile.
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