Fukayama Midori Missed Breakfast

Early in the morning, Fukayama Midori was woken by someone calling to him and shaking him.

"Big bro! Big bro! Get up already! Breakfast's gone cold!"

Still groggy, Fukayama Midori opened his eyes. The first things he saw were a lively cowlick bobbing around and the pretty little face that had inherited their mother's beauty.

He turned around, pulled the covers over himself, and rolled over with his back to the girl behind him.

"It's my day off. I don't have club activities or cram school today. I'm not getting up."

"You should still get up! It's a rare day off, and I worked so hard to make breakfast! You're not going to eat it?"

Looking at her brother, who was being so lazy, Fukayama Natsuki could only plant her hands on her hips in frustration.

She kicked her good-for-nothing brother with her long, white-stocking-clad leg, but he still didn't react.

Grumbling, she gave up and turned to leave the room.

"Stupid big bro! I spent ages making breakfast today. Fine, don't eat it! Starve, then! Starve!"

"Judging by the way you look, you were up all night playing games or watching anime again, weren't you?"

"If your exam results are awful and Mom and Dad cut off your allowance, don't expect me to help you."

Fukayama Natsuki grumbled as she slammed Fukayama Midori's bedroom door shut.

As the footsteps outside gradually faded away, Fukayama Midori's sleepiness began to wear off.

It wasn't that he cared about the breakfast Natsuki had carefully made. It was what she'd said about last night.

"Hm? A new message!" Before he even turned on his phone's screen, he saw the notification light blinking.

Fukayama Midori swiped his finger to unlock his phone and immediately saw several unread messages. They were from Nagase Kumari.

Last night, he really had watched a new anime, played games, and chatted with his friends about the plot and such.

But those weren't why Fukayama Midori had stayed up past one in the morning. He'd been waiting for a message from Nagase Kumari the whole time.

They'd been talking about how to design a flyer, and Fukayama Midori genuinely felt that he and Nagase Kumari got along really well. It was the first time he'd ever discussed otaku stuff with a girl.

But just as they were having a great time chatting, Nagase Kumari suddenly stopped replying.

Maybe Nagase Kumari was eating something or doing something else. She probably just wasn't free for the moment.

Caught up in the conversation, Fukayama Midori didn't give up. He kept messaging Nagase Kumari.

After another ten minutes or so with no reply, Fukayama Midori realized that Nagase Kumari might have dozed off.

So he stopped messaging her. He just sent a few concerned messages like "Be careful not to catch a chill" and "Make sure you're under the covers" before going to bed.

It was already past one by then. Fukayama Midori tossed and turned for a while, watching anime and reading manga before finally falling asleep.

[Nagase Kumari: Sorry, Otaku-kun. I was dozing off just now. You should get some rest too, and be careful not to catch a cold. (Time: 3:28)]

[Nagase Kumari: (Grinning)]

Fukayama Midori immediately smiled when he saw the message.

The only thing he regretted was that if he'd stayed up another two hours, he probably could have replied to Nagase Kumari!

Too bad they'd both fallen asleep.

After calming down from his excitement, Fukayama Midori thought for a moment and sent a reply.

[Fukayama Midori: wwwwww I fell asleep too. Sorry I didn't reply sooner.]

Fukayama Midori waited a little while with his phone in his arms, but there was no reply.

He looked at his latest message, then set his phone beside his pillow and curled up under the covers, feeling as if time were crawling.

Maybe Nagase-san wouldn't get up anytime soon because she'd woken in the middle of the night.

Thinking that, Fukayama Midori shifted into a few different positions. He closed his eyes again, ready to open them the instant he heard anything.

However, the heavy slam of a gate coming from the courtyard was a little noisy.

Natsuki had gone out, then.

Fukayama Midori didn't pay it any mind. He just kept his phone close and closed his eyes, waiting for a notification.

"Tsk, stupid big bro! If you won't eat it, I'll give it all to Ayano-nee! I wonder how it turned out. I followed Ayano-nee's instructions, but I'm not very confident."

Holding the beef and potato curry she'd just made, Fukayama Natsuki sniffed it. It seemed to smell pretty good.

She'd wanted her big brother to try it, but Fukayama Midori hadn't cooperated at all.

She'd gotten up at six in the morning, bought the freshest ingredients and beef, and spent hours making the dish herself. She'd even ended up with seven bandages on her hands.

"Let that big bro eat instant noodles! Let him keep eating convenience-store rice balls and discounted bento every day!"

"I finally wanted to work on improving my cooking, so I even joined the cooking club. Today was the first time I'd made a whole dish on my own. It's fine if big bro doesn't appreciate it!"

"I hope Ayano-nee likes it. If it's not good enough, I can ask Ayano-nee to teach me! Anyway, I'm definitely going to amaze big bro!"

Thinking of that, Natsuki couldn't help bouncing with excitement.

Holding the little pot, she hurried toward the Suzuran Family's house next door.

But just as she passed through the alley between her house and the Suzuran Family's, Fukayama Natsuki felt as if she'd run into a wall.

"Ow!"

"Hm?"

The iron pot of curry slipped from Fukayama Natsuki's hands and fell. She was knocked down too, landing on the ground.

Seeing the curry she'd made first thing that morning splashed all over the other person's clothes, and the pot about to hit the ground and spill its contents, Natsuki panicked.

But just as she thought her first-ever homemade dish was about to return to the earth, a hand reached out and caught the iron pot, heedless of the still-warm curry. The curry that was about to spill was steadied safely inside.

Fukayama Natsuki, now sitting on the ground and breathing a sigh of relief, finally realized what had happened. She hurriedly apologized. "I'm sorry! I was running too fast and wasn't paying attention! I'm really sorry! I'm so sorry I got your clothes dirty!"

Only then did Fukayama Natsuki look up from her curry and at the "wall" in front of her.

This boy had a strong, towering build, completely unlike her big brother Fukayama Midori. Compared with Natsuki, a 157-centimeter-tall third-year middle school student, he really was like a wall.

He was wearing a school uniform, the same one her brother and Ayano-nee wore, but now it was stained with her curry.

When she saw his yellow hair and the scars on his face, Natsuki wore the frightened, timid expression of a small animal that had encountered a predator.

"Are you okay?" Akimoto Yoichi asked, holding the pot of curry as he looked at the sweet, cute middle school girl in front of him, who reminded him of a little deer.