A Matter of Family

Evening - Chapter 5: The Trip (part 2)

A story by Hanayo Koizumi.

I woke up in the middle of the night, it was around 2 or 3 am I couldn't figure out since everything was still blurry and if I had my glasses it wouldn't had helped much. With thirst I searched for my drink but the glass was empty and I had looked over Rin-chan's table but she didn't bring any – even if she had she must had finished it too. In the cold I grabbed a jacket and slippers for the frozen floor. I felt off and had mistaken my right with left. Still so sleepy...

I went out the door without disturbing Rin-chan. Again it was blurry, but I thought I saw a girl in the hallway. I wasn't scared because it was Eli-chan who just came out from the room next to ours. A dream, a blur, or even an imagination, I wasn't sure it was her because that room belonged to Umi-chan and Kotori-chan and she was supposed to stay downstairs in the large room. But the girl was definitely Eli-chan because of her height, her long legs and her hair.

Her hair was so messy, that a comb would stuck if she wanted to brush it. Her night shirt was slanted too, that the straps were so low they weren't on her shoulders. She wasn't wearing any robe, but I guessed it didn't matter because she's adapted to the cold anyway – once she said in a blizzard that it was just tropical weather, the crazy part about it, until this day we still do not know if she were kidding!

She closed the door to the lit room slowly.

'E-Eli-chan?' I asked the girl to see if it was her, while I rubbed my eyes to clarify my vision.

'H-Hanayo?!' The girl jumped and turned around to see me. She must still be scared of the dark especially late night where suddenly someone called her name – I would be too. She pulled up the front of her shirt so it wouldn't fall and she nervously pulled up her straps one by one. 'What... what are you doing up...so late?' She was breathing heavily too.

'Um... I'm... I'm thirsty, Eli-chan. I'm going to get...' I yawned. I walked closer to the girl, who was definitely Eli-chan. 'Get... get something.'

'Okay... Um... let's get you some water, okay? Maybe a warm milk?'

'That sounds great...'

Then we walked down to the kitchen which she let me go ahead of her. Her smile was mysterious and obscured, she was definitely still scared. As we reached the kitchen she had tidied her clothes and was still combing, but she was still taking a lot of air in and out – throughout the time we practiced with Eli-chan, she never had been as exhausted. But it didn't matter, she was fit enough to stabilise it quick.

'Just sit there, I'll heat up the milk for you, Hanayo. I'll make some for myself too.'

'O-okay... I can rest up then.'

'You can at least keep me accompanied.'

Eli-chan didn't pour the milk straight to the pan and heated it and she didn't use a microwave either – since she lived in the apartment she must had gotten used to not using it. She stacked two similar pans. The bottom she filled with water and milk on the top. She kept stirring the milk once in every few seconds. It was actually the proper way to make a warm milk as she told me, I just never knew that. Though it takes a longer time to do it, but she explained in... some language I did not understand, some were familiar and I heard it in physics and biology classes, that this was the proper way.

'Um, Eli-chan? What were you doing in Umi-chan's and Kotori-chan's room?'

'W-what?' She jumped again, but at least she had turned on the stove and was not holding anything dangerous. 'I was doing... I mean... I was reviewing the route... the route for tomorrow's tracking with my better half.'