Chapter 219: Al's Alibi
Since there is no practice today, I’m currently reading a book with Sylvio-niisan in my room.
Recently, I’ve been going out and playing with Torr and Asmo, and also having practiced with Eleonora-neesan outside. So it feels fresh shutting myself and spending my time in my room like this.
It is now the eighth month - the height of summer-, but I am maintaining the temperature of my room to a suitable temperature with my Ice magic. Sylvio-niisan and I were immersed in the world of books while enjoying the comfort that was unrelated to the word ‘summer’.
There are only the faint breathing sounds of me and Sylvio-niisan inside the room. It was so quiet that sometimes, you can only hear the sound of us turning the page of our book. It’s really nice.
However, such a quiet space was broken by a certain presence, that presence was approaching the room from the hallway.
「Haaー, this place is very cool as expected」
The owner of that presence intruded upon my room with rapture without knocking on the door, as if it was the natural thing to do.
It was Eleonora-neesan, my - and Sylvio-niisan’s - sister.
Perhaps she likes the cool jinbei that I gave her as a present since she also wore the gray - closer to black - jinbei even today.
As usual, she doesn’t knock, even though this is not her own room.
I’ve been telling her to knock on the door first for years now, but the situation where Eleonora-neesan knocks on the door has never happened.
「So coolー」
Eleonora-neesan raises her voice in comfort in front of the door, I guess she is enjoying the cold air inside the room.
She flapped the jinbei’s collar, shaking the hem of the jinbei, trying to make the cold air enter under her clothes.
These days, the decline of Eleonora-neesan’s femininity is terrible. Including the matter with the knocking, I probably should strongly warn her about it here.
「……what is it, looking at me like that?」
Maybe she notices me staring at her, she glared at me.
I guess it’s because my face looked like I’m going to complain about something. Eleonora-neesan’s eyes are exuding dangerous lights.
'You have a problem with me?' her eyes are saying that.
Being stared at with that kind of eyes,
「……Eleonora-neesan, the cold air will leave the room, quickly close the door」
「Yeah, yeah, I know」
Just asked her to close the door without mentioning her not knocking on the door or her immodest behavior. I mean, she’s scary you know.
Eleonora-neesan carelessly replies after I ask her to do that, then she skillfully closes the door using the back of her leg.
And then she walk for a bit and lay down on my bed confidently as if it was her own place.
At this point, trying to warn her about her behavior and her not knocking on the door at this point would probably be in vain already.
From the start, it’s impossible even if you ask for a pig to fly. So I gave up after thinking like that.
And so I continue to immerse myself in the world of letters inside the book while holding the feeling of resignation in my heart, but Eleonora-neesan is rolling around, moving the pillow on the bed, touching the Jenga near her, being restless and making me unable to concentrate.
「Hey, what is this?」
And she asks me with no hesitation in her voice, even though we are currently reading a book.
「That’s a Jenga」
Then Sylvio-niisan closes his book and answers Eleonora-neesan’s question.
Sylvio-niisan answered with a smile on his face, not showing any particular feeling of being upset whatsoever.
It’s as though he’s looking after his restless younger brother. I don’t know which one is the older sister and which one is the younger brother.
「Hmーm, so this is a toy, right? How do you play with it?」
Eleonora-neesan asks - seemingly interested in it - while picking up a block of Jenga.
「You play it by pulling a block from the tower then you put the block you took out at the top. The person who makes the tower collapse when they pull out or put it back will lose」
「Heeー, that sounds interesting! Let’s play it!」
「Sure」
So Eleonora-neesan entered the room and started touching Jenga, now it turns out to be this kind of situation right now, making us unable to read.
Sylvio-niisan and I closes our books and nodded to each other.
We put our books on top of the table, and then we changed them to the Jenga that was placed in the room.
「Ah, Eleonora-neesan, you took the Jenga’s box, didn’t you. And now the tower has become tilted, I think it’s because you touched them before」
Because of the touching Eleonora-neesan did to kill some time before, the tower - which had been vertical before - has now completely shifted in position.
We won’t be able to properly play the Jenga with the current tilted tower, right?
「Ahaha, we can’t continue to play if we don’t prepare it again」
「It’s fine even if it became slightly tilted, isn’t it」
And when the tower collapse, Eleonora-neesan will complain about it, right?
It’s actually not a bad thing to play Jenga by purposefully starting with an unbalanced tower, but it would be quite hard for the beginner Eleonora-neesan.
I put the Jenga on the floor, for now, then fix the tower and make it upright.
Sylvio-niisan and I sit around the Jenga, then Eleonora-neesan also started to sit down and imitate us.
「Have you played this before Sylvio?」
「I have been playing this with Al several times」
「……hmーm」
Eleonora-neesan mutters sounding uninterested after hearing Sylvio-niisan answer.
She looks so unhappy that she was not invited to play together with us.
「That’s because Eleonora-neesan was not here as you were still on the way back home when we played this」
’If you were in the mansion back then, we will ask you to play with us, you know?’ I explained with that kind of nuance in my explanation.
「Ah, speaking of on my way back, there’s something that had been bothering me」
While I’m using the box to set up the Jenga tower, Eleonora-neesan muttered that as if she just remembered about it.
Just with that remark alone, I understand what kind of topic Eleonora-neesan will talk about.
「Hey, Al」
「What?」
「Were you in Kikka around two days before I return home?」
My heart rate jumps up after hearing Eleonora-neesan’s question, but I don’t reveal any of it in my expression.
Calm down Alfried. Eleonora-neesan didn’t find me back at Kikka.
I certainly went out to look for slimes that day, but I properly had breakfast in the mansion, and I also return to the mansion in the evening.
I have also made an alibi that shows me being at the mansion that day, besides it’s impossible to return to Koryatt village from Kikka in less than half a day.
Even if Eleonora-neesan saw me at Kikka back then, people wouldn’t doubt me. It would probably be treated as Eleonora-neesan being mistaken.
After fully confirming my innocence, I managed to regain my composure and answer Eleonora-neesan calmly.
「There’s no way I’m in Kikka when I just got back from my trip. I went to the forest with Torr and Asmo at that time, searching for slimes」
「That’s right. Al went outside to look for slime to turn it into a slime cushion. He played Jenga with me after he return」
Sylvio-niisan says as if to prove my alibi.
While Eleonora-neesan alternately looks at me and Sylvio-niisan with a suspicious expression on her face.
I want to think that it’s just my imagination that she looked at me for a somewhat longer time than Sylvio-niisan for some reason.
After only staring at me so thoroughly, Eleonora-neesan confirms it simply with Sylvio-niisan.
Sylvio-niisan - who is completely clueless as to why she doubts it - tilted his head looking really confused.
Eleonora-neesan looks at us alternately and lets out a groan 「……strange」.
「Why did you suddenly say something like that?」
I have an idea why she did that, but it’s a natural question for Sylvio-niisan who doesn’t know anything.
「I felt Al’s presence when I stopped by in the city of Kikka on my way back」
「You felt Al’s presence in Kikka?」
「Yes?」
I react by taking advantage of Sylvio-niisan’s dubious question.
「……maybe neesan just saw someone who look like Al?」
「Yeah, but it’s not. That was certainly his real presence I felt」
「Ha, haa……」
Sylvio-niisan is baffled after hearing Eleonora-neesan’s answer that sounded crazy.
For a third-person POV who listened to our conversation, they wouldn't be able to hold back their laughter while worriedly saying ‘What the heck are you saying now’ to Eleonora-neesan, though it’s not a laughing matter for the person concerned - me.
「I couldn’t actually confirm it, but there’s no mistake that my senses told me that Al was there!」
「……but, Al and I were spending our time just like usually in the mansion, you know?」
「Un」
「That’s why it’s strange, right」
「The strange one is Eleonora-neesan isn’t it? You just felt the presence of someone who felt similar to me. Let’s just play the Jenga rather than thinking about that kind of thing, alright?」
「……yeah, you’re right」
Even when I persuade her like that, she still looked somewhat unsatisfied.
I wonder why do I have to feel nervous, even before playing Jenga……
here
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