It seems that Hijiri will sort out the awkward relationship between him and Hime.
I'm a little worried about entrusting her with the job, as she's a bit absent-minded, but the truth is there's nothing I can do about it. I'll trust Hijiri here.
"I'm back, sorry for leaving you."
Hime returned home immediately after finishing her discussion with Kiyoshi.
Maybe it was because she'd gone to the bathroom, but the redness in her face seemed to have subsided. She seemed calmer, but she still didn't make eye contact with me, so I felt lonely.
The reason I feel like I'm being avoided is probably because we've been good friends for a while now.
Still, he sat right next to me on the sofa, so I knew he didn't dislike me... but I was afraid that if I spoke to him, I'd upset him again, so I couldn't make any moves.
(--Leave it to me!)
When I suddenly looked up, Hijiri-san was winking at me.
She didn't say anything, but I got the feeling she was saying, "Leave it to me." I nodded in agreement, and she nodded vigorously before speaking.
"Hime-chan, aren't you going to eat lunch?"
First, there was a brief greeting. Kiyoshi started off with some random topics, as if to gauge the situation.
"...I have no appetite. Big sister, do you want to eat?"
"Is that okay? Of course, you can eat it later."
For a moment, let's ignore the part of us that is almost controlled by our appetites.
Rather, I admired Hijiri for not succumbing to the temptation of the delicious tonkatsu.
Although she is a gentle person, Hijiri is surprisingly greedy for food, so she suppressed her appetite.
This may be something to look forward to.
"I mean, I'm not really hungry either."
"...Now that I think about it, it's unusual for you to not finish eating yet."
Huh?
When he said that, I realized too. It's true, Hijiri-san, you're eating your lunch slowly today. There's still half a pork cutlet left.
Normally I can finish eating in about 10 minutes, so today was slow, but I'd still only eaten about a third of it, so my pace was still pretty fast.
"Have you gotten over your bad habit of swallowing without chewing?"
"I don't have that kind of habit."
"Yes, I do. I suck up dinner like a vacuum cleaner, and the maid gets mad at me and tells me to chew it 100 times."
"Hey, don't say that in front of Yohei! It makes me look like a child!"
No, it's okay.
I already think that even though she looks mature, she's still a child inside.
...But that's beside the point.
"It's rare to see a sister with no appetite. Are you feeling unwell?"
Hime looked worried.
Even though she's not feeling well herself, she worries about her sister, which makes me feel warm inside and makes me realize what a nice girl she is.
However, it seems that Kiyoshi wasn't feeling unwell, but had been thinking about something and hadn't eaten her lunch.
"No, I'm fine. I just wanted to give Yohei something to eat."
"...to me?"
This is where I got caught up too.
Kiyoshi finally takes action to improve his relationship with Hime.
What on earth are they going to do?
I was watching with bated breath,
"Yes. Yo-hee, ah?"
She handed me a piece of pork cutlet.
...Um. W-why?
Is this something he needs to do to improve the awkwardness between him and Hime?
As expected, I still didn't really understand Hijiri's thoughts.