“I’m home!”
Aki got home about half an hour after Shouta left, carrying a plastic bag with beer and snacks as always. She would have them with the meal her sister made, as was her routine after work.
“Ah, Aki, welcome back…”
“Good work today Maki! I had nothing to do again today. I miss Shouta, but congrats to you!”
“Ah, uu…”
“Oh?”
They spoke that morning about Shouta proposing that Maki be his exclusive. Aki figured he would do it eventually, since he was mostly unfamiliar with exclusivity contracts, but she was surprised by how fast it happened. She even did a little dance when she got the call.
Only two days passed since he left, and she was feeling lonely regardless, but she was still happy about Maki. And so, she congratulated her sister with her usual joking tone, but… There was something odd about Maki’s reaction.
Usually she would say something back with a cold stare, but she completely let it slide…
Was she actually really embarrassed!?
“W-wait, seriously? You snuck ahead of me!?”
“Eh? Ah… N-no. W-we haven’t reached that point yet…”
“Y-yet!? And it advanced that much since this morning!? Wait wait, tell me what happened right now!”
And so, Aki heard everything that happened since their phone call earlier that day.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
“…I see. He came back in tatters, and you lost your self-control.”
“Yes… He broke his sword in battle, and although he wasn’t hurt, he was covered in dirt. I got worried…”
In the ten years since dungeons appeared, many adventurers went out seeking valuable skill orbs and treasure, only to come back in a state that would not let them fight again, or not come back at all.
But there were also those who survived and kept fighting. Maki and I admired these people known as living legends, and wished to one day be on the side that saw them off. That was why we took this job.
But reality was not so nice.
It was a year after Maki made her debut as a receptionist.
A beginner dungeon was a relatively gentle place, but she still faced the deaths of adventurers numerous times. Because of that, her heart hurt, and it was catching up to her.
Dungeons are very scary and dangerous places, and yet, we send them there to make money. Maki had many reasons to take the post of receptionist, but after one year, her heart was being broken.
I couldn’t just ignore this, so I looked for something to distract her. And eventually, I found the answer was right in front of me.
Yes, Shouta.
At first, he just sort of wandered into the deserted Unlucky Hall, but then, I started seeing him every day.
As adventurers left this dungeon without any gain in droves, he remained. A lot happened at that time, and I got the job of branch manager of that dungeon through my mother’s connections.
But even if I tried to run it, adventurers would only leave, nevermind getting more. I was getting sick of things not going well, so I think I was helped a lot by seeing him, who seemed to be having fun no matter how much time passed.
Unlike other adventurers, he saw the dungeon not as a place to make money, but as something like a fun playground. He was so weird, having fun running around every day in that dungeon that was so plain and never changed.
Yes, slime are the weakest monsters. You can defeat them without really trying.
But there was no way someone could keep hunting them for years, while working as an adventurer. What he was doing was basically penance. If you made someone else do it, the unchanging and plain work would drive them crazy. I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t want to.
I cleaned up a couple of dozen to pass the time like I did the last couple of days, and that was enough for me.
And yet, he arrived every day with a smile on his face, and it was still there when he left. And as time passed, he started reporting an unusual amount of monsters beaten, and bringing back a whole lot of magic stones.
When I had to leave for a few days and returned to the assessment counter, I almost fell over when I saw the amount of minuscule magic stones that were piled up. I thought I was dreaming.
I figured he could give Maki the heart stimulus she needed.
He was most certainly not strong. In fact, he fit right in with the monsters that are said to be the weakest in the world, but I never saw any adventurers who seemed to enjoy the dungeon that much.
I didn’t know if Maki was drawn by how excited I was, or if she really was curious, but at some point, she started saying she wanted to meet him.
And after I kept inviting him for a long time, Shouta finally accepted, and I thought the chance had come to bring a smile back to Maki’s face.
That was why I used my authority as branch manager to make myself his exclusive, and my sister his proxy exclusive right away, but…
“Shouta, I get that Maki is cute, but that’s too fast…! What do you mean ‘with my Luck, there’s no wall I can’t climb’? When did you learn to say cool lines like those? You were never involved with me a little bit in the past three years!”
“That’s… Because you took distance to mask your embarrassment, and made fun of him.”
“Uu…”
“You said it yourself while you were reading manga, right? That tsunderes are hard to pull off in reality.”
“Uguh!”
“Shouta was actually here until just a while ago, but he left because he said you’d make fun of him~. He’s avoiding you.”
“Gufuuh! Uu… Uwahn! I wanted to see him too! Maki, you big bully!!”
“Yes yes, I’ll go make dinner, so hang on tight.”
“You’re so awful!”
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In other words the older sis actually has a thing for the MC too but she tried playing the tsundere and got her just desserts with him avoid her😂