"I know. You won't be left out!"
Right now, Nao felt as if her family had gained another oversized bear of a little brother. But somehow... this kind of bickering felt pretty nice too.
At the very least, when she served Ash a bowl of rice, she was quite happy, no longer as conflicted as she had been when she first met him.
As he brought the Midorikawa Family's perfectly simmered curry and rice to his mouth, Ash had to admit that it really was delicious. Rarely quiet, he watched Nao bustle around the dining table, serving curry to her younger siblings, teaching her playful little sister not to forget her table manners in front of a guest, and tending to the youngest child, who was nervous about having a stranger at the table.
They were all trivial, ordinary little matters—things Ash would normally dismiss with contempt. Yet Nao Midorikawa, as the eldest sister, tirelessly did them over and over in front of him, the smile on her face never fading from beginning to end.
"Family..."
You had always been surrounded by this precious feeling. That was why, even when your companions betrayed and abandoned you back then, you never felt even the slightest despair. So that was who you were, Cure March?
"It feels really nice..."
Family members who sincerely loved one another without any deception or concealment.
How wonderful.
"Ash?"
Was he talking about family because he was seeing all this now?
Without realizing it, Nao included the man sitting beside her within the range of people she wanted to take care of. Seeing the faint "melancholy" at the corner of his eyes, she could not help blurting out a question.
"Do you... not feel anything about family?"
The moment those words left her mouth, Nao realized something