Chapter 57 – Sister’s Empty Seat (1)
The morning after I gave up all my hard feelings towards Lucia.
Feeling his eyelids open for the first time in a while, Mason got up from the bed.
What I could see out the window was the sun slowly poking its head over the ridge, an early morning without fatigue after a long time.
“I’m sorry.”
After stretching and stretching her new stiff body, I tidy up the blanket and go out the door, looking at Lucia’s closed door for a while.
Lucia is sleeping.
Mason thought about knocking on her door before heading to her first floor. She felt a little embarrassed because she seemed to only show her ugly side these days.
Her sense of qualifications for showing only her unstable and weak inner side rather than her trustworthy appearance as her older sister.
But from now on it will be different.
“… Now, it’s getting better.”
Because she can no longer be hung up on sad feelings forever.
As much as she had relieved the burden on her heart after her conversation with Lucia yesterday, she wanted to show her good side in the future and fill the void she felt in her family even more.
“Because we are family.”
Mason smiled a little and headed to her kitchen. She had been thinking of making breakfast for her brother for the first time in a while.
Mason set out all her food and utensils, and she looked through them proudly.
“Um, that’s it.”
It was a great breakfast. Homemade pancakes, bacon and eggs that Lucia loved as a child. It was a simple but hearty breakfast that no one hated.
Mason looked up at her steps, feeling proud once again. Contrary to what she thought she would come down by the time she finished cooking, Lucia didn’t even shine her nose.
Mason climbed the stairs and knocked on Lucia’s door, but she didn’t answer.
“Um…”
Mason knocked on Lucia’s door once more. A light knock sounded, but still no response was heard.
Along with the unpleasant sensation of slightly shaking the body, the senses of the body suddenly become sensitive. Her hand trembled slightly as she tried to knock again.
Don’t get foolishly mistaken.
Lucia will not abandon you.
Mason vowed to herself like her spell, and slowly, so as not to wake her, she opened her door.
Kiik-
The sound of hinges, which seem to be loud today, Mason thrust her head in, calming her heart that suddenly started beating fast.
Above her bed, she could see the silhouette of her brother, who breathed regularly. Mason quietly entered her room with a rush of relief, and she carefully sat down on her bed.
The sound of her quiet breathing calmed Mason. She thought for a moment that she was stupid, and she was ashamed of herself. She smoothed her tousled hair in her sleep.
“Um…”
Lucia, who tossed and turned for a moment at her touch, smiled. I also drew an arc along the corner of Mason’s mouth.
As a child, it felt like she had returned to before she left this place.
Mason quietly bowed her head and whispered in her ear.
“Lucy. Wake up. You should eat breakfast.”
With her quiet whisper and a light tap on her, Lucy tossed and turned a few times before opening her eyes. Her two brown eyes, still in her slumber, turned to her.
“… Mmm, sister… ?”
Her voice was hushed up and her face was still awake. Mason had a smile on her face, identical to that of her brother in her memories.
It was a really happy smile.
“Okay. Since you are my sister, get up now and let’s go to breakfast.”
“Good smell…”
Lucia spoke of her blankly, then held out her hand towards her. Mason grabbed her hand and pulled her up to help Lucia get up.
Lucia yawned slightly, then she got up, putting on her nightgown and slippers. After meeting her sister, she always felt that her forgotten longing was satisfied when she saw her disheveled appearance rather than her tidy appearance.
I was happy that I could still find traces of her past even in her grown-up appearance.
She thought so as she turned her body towards her door-
“Smells delicious…”
“Aww! Lucia?!”
Suddenly, Lucia hugged her from behind, buried her head in the nape of her neck, and inhaled. From behind her, she felt a hand press against her chest as she clasped her arm under her arm.
“… Smells like bacon.”
The movement of her murmured lips, the trembling created by her breath, were felt on her shoulders beyond her fabric and on her bare skin that her fabric couldn’t cover. It was a bit of a tickling sensation.
A little ambiguous posture and a strange feeling, Mason froze for a moment, unable to do this or that. But when Lucia showed no sign of letting go of her, she had no choice but to open her mouth to Mason.
“Me, Lucia?”
“Yes-?”
“Will you let this go?”
“No…”
Lucia’s hazy voice. Mason noticed that she was bragging about her, but was a bit unwelcome to Lucia’s flirtatiousness and agreed to join her as well.
“Aww, really. I thought I was grown up, but I’m still a kid.”
As she tried to evoke her slight awkwardness by mimicking what her parents would have said, she felt Lucia’s head move. And the next feeling that followed.
Lucia’s low voice echoed in my ears.
“I hate that… ?”
The tickle created by the whispers in my ears, and the somewhere sorrowful voice of hers gave me goosebumps. Mason shook her slightly, but Lucia wouldn’t let her go.
“Oh, no. It can’t be.”
His voice sounded somewhat embarrassing, but there was no lie in Mason’s answer.
“That’s it…”
Lucia buried her head into the nape of her neck again. While suppressing the goosebumps that stem from awkwardness, not from being terrified, Lucia moved her stride, forcing Mason to move as well.
As he made his way to the ground floor, Mason felt a bit awkward. Her sudden flirtation with her little brother, the inexorable touch she showed, felt all too sudden.
But, if you ask me if I don’t like it…
Mason thought she wasn’t.
Although, it was a little uncomfortable because the last same-sex contact she had was with Shiana, and it was an emotion she wasn’t prepared to deal with.
Because Lucia is her family.
More than just affection, the sense of security given by the solidarity given by the position given from birth was greater.
Also the childishness she shows, because she really sees herself as her older sister and seems to be comfortable with it.
Also, she felt that her series of touches wiped away the uncertainty she felt before he knocked on her door.
For she knows that every expression of affection she shows will become a stone that holds her from being blown away by her wind.
She continued with her steps, full of tenderness and her gratitude.
After descending the stairs, which seemed to take twice as long as usual, and in front of her table, Lucia tapped her arm, which was still holding her chest tightly.
“Now sit down, Lucia. I need to eat.”
“Yes… Thank you.”
Upon hearing her words, Lucia obediently released her arm that was imprisoning her Mason. The moment she felt the sensation of her back lightened and her chest.
Talk-.
The momentary softness felt on the nape of the neck.
She put her hand on the nape of her neck in surprise and looked at Lucia, but she still only made her way to her chair with her weary gait.
Looking at her back, Mason pondered for a moment whether her actions were intentional.
“Hmm? It’s a pancake… ?”
At the sight of her brother speaking in a voice that escaped her drowsiness, her doubts vanished in an instant.
Mason also sat across from her, holding a fork and knife.
It was one of the most delicious breakfasts I’ve had so far.
“Whoa… Sister, it was a really delicious breakfast.”
Lucia, who had woken up after the meal, smiled and playfully tapped her stomach. Mason grinned as she looked at her skinny belly, despite the exaggerated banging.
“I’m glad. It’s worth preparing.”
“Huh. It’s nothing else, it’s the pancakes my sister made herself. It was so delicious.”
“… Do you remember That’s why I prepared it.”
With a slight surprise, when I spoke calmly, trying hard not to show her emotional side, Lucia opened her eyes wide and continued the story.
“How could I forget? When her sister was little, she did so much!”
At her bright reaction, Mason laughed too. She did a lot of what she said. No, because that was the only dish I could cook.
“Okay. Even though I did a lot of it to the point of getting sick of it, you always ate it without getting angry.”
When I bring up an old story, I naturally smile. It was a pleasant recollection of her own memories, the burden of having to make her accept herself as she had before.
Her sense of security that fills her to the fullest, her complete joy she feels after a long time.
Mason looked at her Lucia with a hearty smile.
In the place of the little girl whose mouth was covered with syrup and the same piece of pancake in her memory, now there was a beautiful maiden who was like a flower in full bloom.
“You’ve already become a young lady like this.”
She herself felt that it was something a very old man would say, but nonetheless it came out with a feeling of regret she couldn’t help.
I felt tears in my eyes getting hot for no reason, and Lucia didn’t miss it.
“… Are you crying?”
“Yes? That is.”
Mason hurriedly wiped her eyes and smiled. It wasn’t a forced smile, but a faint smile tinged with sadness.
“That’s it, I’m sorry.”
“… What are you sorry about?”
“… Because I couldn’t be there when you were supposed to be.”
The angry words she uttered yesterday were outbursts of emotion, but they weren’t without reason.
It was only now that they were honest with each other that they could clearly feel how much hurt her older sister had shown her, and how much her anxiety had caused her.
She puts her hat on the plate even when she thinks of repaying her family to fill the place she has left vacant for her, which she hasn’t been able to do so far.
She was terrified that her brother would not accept her.
“Yes. I want to do the role of an older sister that I haven’t been able to do in the past, if you give me permission.”
Mason spoke to her with all her heart. After her breakfast, I didn’t want to make her feel like she was talking about such heavy things.
She had to talk now. She wanted to announce the start of her change in the future.
After hearing her words, Lucia also put on a serious expression. She hesitated a little, as if it was difficult to get her story out, but she finally cleared her throat and opened her mouth to see if she had made up her mind.
“I’m sorry about yesterday. Words I shouldn’t have said.”
“Oh no, Lucia. Why did you think that-“
“No, it’s my fault.”
Rejecting Mason’s dissuade, Lucia apologized to her. Then she opened her mouth again, with an apologetic and bright smile.
“No matter what anyone says, she is an older sister who sacrificed a lot for me, but I said something I shouldn’t have said. Can you forgive me?”
“What do you have to forgive? We are family.”
Because of her sincerity, Mason was extremely light-hearted. She seemed to be able to erase the remaining boundaries little by little.
“Let’s forget what happened for a few days. As much as her older sister wants to fill her empty spot, I also want to fill her younger sister’s spot.”
Lucia stretched her hand across her table, a face full of embarrassment. Mason, realizing what she was reaching out for, also reached out and grabbed her hand.
“Okay. I will do my best.”
“Really? Even if it bothers me, I don’t know.”
“It can be annoying.”
“What if I just get lazy?”
“I’ll laugh, take a sigh, and scold you.”
“Are you going to hide and surprise me?”
“What are you five years old?”
“Then what if you’re just kidding?”
“I’ll accept it. Because I am your sister.”
Mason smiled as he held her hand in her grip with a little effort.
“Okay? Then-“
“Oh-“
In an instant, the force that pulled her out, she wouldn’t have been pulled normally, but her body suddenly leaned forward because she was so relaxed.
The tablecloth is crumpled, and cutlery slips from the plate. The tableware that fell to the floor fell with a clicking sound.
Because Lucia also put her head out, their faces are extremely close. Each eyelashes stretched out one by one, and the brown eyes shining beneath them could be seen very clearly.
The expectations contained in those eyes.
“Okay, sister.”
Open soft pink lips. Mason looks at her sudden action, at a loss for what to do.
“I kiss you.”
Lucia smiled and playfully tapped her lips.
