Chapter 4: Morning Greeting Activity

“Itsuki, wake up.”

“…Huh? Yeah.”

While my mother shook my body, I wriggled around.

Moving, I curled up inside the warm blanket.

I want to sleep a little longer.

Because I’ve been moving my body throughout the three-day weekend, my whole body is sore.

Certainly, my current body is young… or rather, it’s a child’s body, so the fatigue disappears when I wake up. Fatigue might disappear, but muscle soreness remains even stronger.

“Nina-chan is already awake.”

“Huh!”

Startled by my mother’s words, I unconsciously opened my eyes.

That’s right.

Nina-chan stayed over last night!

Hastily getting up, I changed my clothes and headed to the washroom.

After finishing my morning routine, I went to the living room where Nina-chan was drinking miso soup.

Nina-chan looked at me and said.

“Good morning, Itsuki.”

“Uh…Yeah, good morning.”

Experiencing having a friend at home in the morning not only feels unfamiliar but also a first-time experience for me.

To be honest… I’ve never stayed over at someone else’s house or had a friend stay over at my place. I’ve never stayed over at Aya-chan’s place either.

Although there was a time when I almost stayed over with Aya-chan due to work-related matters with Renji-san, that ended up unresolved.

So, this is truly my first experience.

Even though all we did together was finish Nina-chan’s unfinished homework, eat, take a bath, and sleep.

But still, it was undoubtedly a fun experience.

“Nina-chan, did you sleep well?”

“…Yes, I managed to sleep.”

Nina-chan’s answer doesn’t seem like she slept well.

Well, it’s her first time sleeping over at someone else’s house, so it’s understandable that she couldn’t sleep well.

I also remember having a similar experience during my school days in my past life during a school trip.

There are people who can sleep right away in a new hotel and there are those who can’t sleep well. I’m definitely the latter. Judging from Nina-chan’s reaction, it seems she’s similar.

With grilled salmon, omellete, and miso soup rice in front of me, I moved my chopsticks aimlessly.

By the way, this breakfast isn’t because Nina-chan is here.

We always have breakfast like this.

It’s amazing, isn’t it?

“This is my first time having rice for breakfast.”

“Do you usually have bread?”

Nina-chan nodded in response to my question.

I thought it might be due to my upbringing, but there are also people raised in Japan who prefer bread in the morning. Since it doesn’t seem very relevant, I swallowed that thought.

While the two of us were having breakfast, Hina-chan, half-asleep, came over with our mother guiding her.

Her hair was a mess, and she was wearing pajamas. However, she was holding a hairbrush in her right hand.

“Here, onii-chan.”

“Alright.”

Even though I had only eaten about half of my breakfast, if Hina-chan came over, there’s no helping it.

As Hina-chan asked, I gently brushed her hair.

It’s not like it’s a daily routine, but sometimes Hina-chan asks me to do this.

Originally, our mother used to do it, but since she’s busy in the mornings, I offered to help, and that’s how it turned out.

Touching Hina-chan’s long hair, I think about how smooth and beautiful it is.

Maybe it’s because she’s a child, or perhaps it’s just her hair type.

Either way, even though I don’t have much interest in hair, I can’t help but feel a bit jealous of her hair. It’s lovely.

“Do you do this every day?”

“Huh? No, not every day. Just sometimes.”

As I was combing her hair, Nina-chan asked me.

So, I immediately denied doing it every day, but Nina-chan looked a bit puzzled.

“Hmm.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Nina-chan murmured and continued eating her grilled salmon.

By the way, Nina-chan has become quite skilled with chopsticks.

I finished grooming Hina-chan’s hair and carried our school bags as we left the house.

Until now, I used to go to school alone in the morning for magic practice with Nina-chan, but from today, we’ll be going to school together for a while.

It feels nice not being alone, I thought as I breathed in the autumn air.

I could see people heading to work or school around us, including middle and high school students, but there were no other elementary school kids like us.

That’s natural, though.

Unlike high school students with club activities, elementary school kids don’t come to school early in the morning.

So, as I pondered over these thoughts, Nina-chan brought up a topic.

“Hey, Itsuki, is that story true?”

“What story?”

I wondered what she was talking about, so I asked, and Nina-chan continued concisely.

“The story about monsters increasing.”

“Hmm…”

Maybe they are increasing. After all, Father and Renji-san have been going on more business trips… I thought, but when she mentioned it, I didn’t really feel like the frequency of monster appearances around us had increased.

“Irena-san did say they are appearing all over Japan, and they’re not really around us much…”

As I was about to say “maybe it’s just that,” my mouth remained shut.

There was a reason for keeping it shut.

Because right in front of us, there it was.

A monster.

Entwined around the traffic light’s signal part was a single, long, snake-like finger, probably about three meters long.

The claw part, or rather, the snake’s head, was firmly attached to a human head, and it opened its mouth with an astonishing smile.

“Good morning! Ah, ah, I’m here to inform you it’s 6 am in the morning!!”

“…!”

Nina-chan took a shallow breath and held my hand.

It’s her habit.

Nina-chan is no longer paralyzed with fear when facing a monster, but when suddenly confronted with one like this… the fear still seizes her.

That’s why she holds my hand, as she told me before.

“Don’t worry, okay?”

So, I tried to calm her with a gentle voice and extended my “Thread Guide Silvate.”

Then, I cut off the head of the snake-like finger.

“Ah, ah, because it’s morning, it’ll heal! It’s important to greet!”

However, despite spouting nonsensical words, the body sprouted from the decapitated head. 

On the other hand, the one whose head was severed had the wound bulge like a water balloon, and when it burst, a new head emerged.

『Ju, at 6:00am I split into two!』

『I, it’s, now it’s 9:00am！！』

Long fingers intertwine with each other like snakes mating.

……It feels bad and I don’t know what it means.

I stretched out my “Thread Silvate,” and I chanted.

“Flame Worm!”

Flames surrounded the snake-like fingers.

『Ah, ah, it’s hot! It’s so hot that it’s 8 o’clock! I’ll announce 8 o’clock!!』

『Ju, juujuu, it’s burning so much, it’s now 10 o’clock!!』

The snakes distort their faces in burning pain and rampage, but my flame will not go out and they couldn’t escape.

　No wonder.

This magic, using “Guiding Thread Silvate,” entangles the opponent and ignites them, creating an inescapable prison of flames. Unlike “Flame Bee,” it doesn’t pierce through the opponent, but if the target’s movements are sluggish, this one has more power.

The burnt and charred snake-like fingers quickly fall to the ground, becoming completely motionless.

While the black mist rose into the sky with the smoke.

Just as the morning sun pierced through the black mist, Nina-chan spoke softly.

“Um, um, Itsuki.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you always… um, defeat monsters on your way to school?”

“No, not that often.”

“I see…”

Nina-chan sighed with relief upon hearing that.

Then we continued walking to school, and she didn’t let go of my hand.

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