Reiji Kotobuki - A room I've been using for a long time

“... Whaddya mean?”
When I was still little, I couldn’t understand the words that Mom had suddenly said that day.
If Mom is gonna become Dad… then what’s Dad gonna be?
I have a faint memory of thinking something like that.
When I came to understand that Dad wasn’t coming back home anymore, one month had passed since mom’s statement that she would become Dad.
Dad would often spend a lot of nights away from home, but even then he had never been away for a month without coming back.
At that moment, little me finally understood what Mom had been trying to say.
Thinking back on it now, if at that time I had acted like a kid who didn’t understand anything, Mom’s attitude towards me might have been a little different.
My life started to change the day I came to the realization that Dad wasn’t coming back.
“Reiji, your duties will start with washing the dishes.”
“... What are ‘duties’?”
“Being in charge of helping. We’ll start by getting you used to the kitchen.”
“Whaaa—... By ‘start’ you mean helping? What? Every day from now on?”
It wasn’t as if I hadn’t helped at all up until then.
But it felt like a time of change, so of course, I couldn’t help but be confused.
I would also be forced to give up what free time I had to read the manga I loved so much.
“Of course. Our family precept is ‘Those who do not help shall not eat.’”
Before I realized, a large frame bearing the family precept had been placed in the living room.
“Come on, if you understand then go and learn how to wash the dishes from Big Sis.”
“Whaaat?”
From the back of the house, Big Sis made a loud, displeased remark.
“That’s how it is. It’s his first time washing the dishes at the shop, after all.”
“Guess I have no choice…”
That is to say, Big Sis had been washing the shop’s things for a long time.
“Here, stand on this platform.”
“But…”
“Just do it already!”
Big Sis also taught me how to wash cutlery and other dangerous items, and so, little by little, I grew up to be useful to the Kotobuki household.
I’m very dexterous, if I may say so myself, and in the end, I’m also the only male worker in the family.
Those features started to come into play rapidly.
“Rei-chan, two makunouchi lunch boxes!”
“Cooomin’!”
My aunt, as the cashier, called out to the kitchen from the storefront.
Even though I was only a primary school student, I had already become an indispensable power force for Kotobuki Bento.
While I put the karaage in the oil, I’d quickly pack the rice and stuff the side dishes while it was frying.
Naturally, seasoning and preparation were Mom and Big Sis’ jobs, but somehow it got to the point that I would know when the karaage was fried just right.
“Wait, Reiji. How many times have I told you to leave the rice scoop in water after you use it!?”
“Ah, I’m sorry!”
Whenever I was careless, Big Sis’ harsh voice would pierce me like bullets, but that never discouraged me at all.
After all, “those who do not help shall not eat”. Even if I came home from school with a rumbling tummy…
“Aaah~, I’m so hungry~. Mom, what’s for dinner todayyy?”
“Oh, you’ve arrived just in time. I have to leave for a meeting for a bit, so you prepare it, okay?”
“Whaaat!? You’re just gonna neglect your hungry son and leave!?”
“Those who do not help...?”
“... shall not eat, it is.”
Thus, I learned to cook pretty well.
And not only that—when I became a little bigger, that also gave me trouble.
“Oh, Reiji, go buy some rice. Five kilos, okay?”
“Oh, sake too. The usual cooking sake.”
“Oh, sorry Rei-chan, but the soy sauce is running out. Get the big value one, you know the one, right?”
“Mom, Sis, Auntie. Isn’t all of that too heavy to bring at once even for a man!?”
“Aaaw, it’s okay~. You’ve grown so big, Rei-chan.”
Bam, my part-timer auntie patted my back with full-force.
Just how are the Kotobuki women so strong?
“Okay, I understand! Well~, if I take my bicycle, it’ll be fine!”
“Also, bring oil please!”
Big Sis, are you a demon?
Thanks to this, cooking, cleaning and laundry don’t pose a problem for me. But... sometimes I think that I started being called a jack of all trades later on because of the way I was brought up too.
“What a cruel story, don’t you think?”
“Maybe it’s nothing to laugh at, but your family seems like fun.”
Kouhai-chan was listening to my story eagerly.
“Same with Saotome Academy, before long Mom made a second precept. She told me ‘Those who do not make money, shall not eat, so carry out the plan,’ and so I had no choice but to enroll, you see.”
“You have a very strong mother.”
“Yeah. Well, she was doing the role of both parents.”
“It’s your typical matrilineal family. Maybe that’s the reason I’m weak to women…”
“You are… weak?”
Kouhai-chan blinks her eyes repeatedly. She looks a bit like a little bird; it’s so cute.
“I’m weak! I can’t say no if a woman asks something of me.”
“As expected, Kotobuki-senpai is so kind.”
“And if a woman said she liked me, I’d do anything for her.”
That’s right, I’d do everything and anything...
If there was a girl who could open the door to my heart.
I muttered that in my mind.