Chapter 31

Chapter 31
Edited by Pantherocker
Translator note: Heyyya!
This is now the third chapter this week and tomorrow I will post the fourth regular chap .
Have a good read!
-Cheers!
Finished with Rouga's training, I arrived home just in time for dinner .
I was called by mom to take a seat, then ate my meal . Today's dinner was a delicious hamburger, as expected from my mom . I suddenly sensed Karen's odd gaze while I was enjoying my hamburger .
When our eyes met, she averted them once again .
She avoided eye contact again . I wondered if I was being ignored by her .
I threw away my thoughts about Karen for the time being and focused on savoring the hamburger in front of me .
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In the middle of the quiet night .
I abruptly awoke from my peaceful sleep due to the 【Presence sensation】, which detected something nearby . I usually had it active as a plan against thieves, but I never thought that something like that would actually happen .
I got up and prepared to catch the thief when I finally realized that the detected presence was not new and I halted . Apparently it was Karen .
As I was trying to figure out what she would be doing at this time of night, Karen stopped in front of my room . Immediately after realizing that door was slowly opening, I swiftly covered myself and pretended to be asleep .
Karen slowly approached my bed, raised my blankets and lay next to me .
Wai- what are you doing?!
Getting soundlessly shocked by her conduct, Karen didn't stop there, but kept moving until she was stuck against me .
Eh, no way, what was this? What was this situation supposed to be?
Feeling dubious about Karen's unusual behavior, I opened my eyes to confirm whether it was really her or not .
"…"
"……"
Our eyes met spot on .
It was really Karen after all .
Despite the eye contact, Karen remained to gaze at me . She must be extremely surprised since her eyes were faintly shifting .
We continued staring at each other for a few seconds . I mean, I couldn't move even if I had wanted to .
Feeling pressed by the severe silence, I brought up my courage and opened my mouth .
"A- uum, What… are you doing?"
"…Nothing…"
"I-I see…"
Replying with only "I see," to her excuse, the silence took place once again .
This was really awkward…
Trying to figure out a way out of the situation, Karen opened her mouth .
"…thanks . "
"Thanks?'
"I didn't express my thanks to you yet . "
It was probably about the other day with the dragon . All of that happened because I blew the dragon in her direction, so I didn't deserve to be thanked, honestly .
"I couldn't find a good time to thank you and I had a hard time finding a good place to do so…"
"That's why you sneaked into my bed?"
Karen slowly nodded her head .
This explains why she had been avoiding me lately .
It seemed like she had been waiting for good timing .
When I finally consented to Karen's recent conduct, I said to her .
"Karen, all of that happened because I sent the dragon in your direction . So you don't need to thank-"
"Doesn’t matter . "
Karen interrupted me when I arrived at the important part .
"The fact that you saved me doesn't change . Besides, you rescued me from something else too . "
Uttering those words, Karen moved her face near my chest to hide it from me .
"So, thank you . Onii-chan . "
Karen's last line reverberated inside my head .
Onii-chan… huh .
"Been a long time since you last called me that way . "
I wonder, when did she stop calling me Onii-chan?
Trying to remember the past, I recalled the last time she called me that way .
It was when we were still in elementary school . At that time I snapped after seeing her getting bullied by her classmates . Looking back at it now, I think that I went too far by taking their pictures and scattering them around the school .
From that day on, she started addressing me by "Hey, you," or "Come here," instead of "Onii-chan . "
Even here attitude had turned from that of a child to appear more like that of an adult woman .
But still, Onii-chan, huh?
"Karen, can you call me Onii-chan one more time?"
"Don't get carried away . "
I requested Karen to call me Onii-chan again, but she refused .
I guess that was more of a rare event . I wanted to get immersed by its reverberation at least one more time .
How unfortunate, it looked like I wouldn't be hearing that word for long while .
"But I can call you by anything else . "
Karen suggested . Property of © Fantasy-Books . live;.
Anything else? Just how bad do you not want to call me Onii-chan? Your big brother was feeling kinda sad now .
After spending a few moments pondering about how I should answer, I hit on a good idea .
"Well then, how about we go out somewhere together tomorrow?"
We rarely go out together, so it wouldn't be that bad if we went somewhere tomorrow .
"Okay . "
Getting Karen's consent, I promptly went back to sleep to wake up in time for tomorrow's adventure .
"Okay then, tomorrow was it?"
"Right . Good night . "
Karen replied to my question and closed her eyes .
So she will sleep here, huh…
A bitter smile reached my face while watching Karen, who was sticking to me, and I closed my eyes to wait for sleep to come .
Her sleeping face and light breaths made it a little hard to sleep, but since it was cute, I let it pass .
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Bonus
A promise .
"Chief, what did you do last night?"
"What do you mean?"
"Chief, yesterday you were kinda strange~ "
"Yesterday, Karen came to my room and we slept together . "
"Hmmm… hey, chief . "
"What?"
"You enjoyed your last night, didn't you?"
"Wo- let's clear up this matter right away . "
Nothing happened actually .