Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 338: Arc 5, - 32: Daily Life

"Chhff... Chhech. Crackle-" "-mor- -chhr- -questions arise with the rumours circling the nation.

In international news, the Azure Firefly has officially resigned from being the Temporary Royal Advisor of the Undying Princess. The 22-year-old Ms Hotaru Kinoshita has departed from Tamara Palace and gone on to pursue her adventuring career..."

The broadcast went on as Jotou finally stopped switching the radio station. ’Looks like the news’ caught up to us. Hopefully they don’t know exactly where we are...’

She stood next to the radio in the living room, listening to the news broadcast for a few more seconds. ’It’s almost like Aru’s more famous than me... Is she?’

Jotou walked along the carpet and brushed her leg against the armrest of the single sofa, where she decided to take a seat on top of. Her arms crossed over the back of the sofa and rested her chin down; her head tilted watching the redhead at the dining table.

Hotaru on the other hand, watched the silver hands tick in her watch. Asobi sat at the dining table as well, looking at a few sheets of paper stappled together; she tapped the rubber of a pencil against her lip.

A lazy Sunday afternoon—now more rested after their little Friday night excursion. Merely the radio chirped behind the blonde who lied precariously on the arm and back of the sofa—much like a cat on any furniture.

"And... time’s up," Hotaru broke the silence.

"Oh no, wait-wait-wait!" Asobi quickly wrote something on.

"They won’t give you more time Sobi," Hotaru placed her hand on the papers, "Pencil down."

The raven-haired woman pouted and handed her papers over. Hotaru took them and glanced at the first page, red pen in hand... She narrowed her eyes and looked back up to Asobi...

Jotou slid off the armrest and ambled over to behind Hotaru’s chair. She lowered her head and glanced at the paper, "Name, Henry?" she read aloud.

The wolf-girl’s head shook, "Asobi, you’re supposed to write down your name," a baffled expression replied.

"Ohhh..." Asobi’s eyes waxed open. "So they know which paper’s yours. I thought I was supposed to name the paper."

"Why Henry?" Jotou titled her head.

"I don’t know, sounded like a good name," she shrugged.

Hotaru peered behind her with scrunched eyes, "Does that even matter?" her voice went high. The redhead looked back and pointed to the paper, "And what’s this? ’No thank you’?" she squinted.

"I was really having trouble with that one; it asked me on a date and I didn’t know whether to say yes or no," Asobi peeked over. "Is it wrong?"

"It’s the 2nd of February 980, that’s all you needed to write; this is just the details on top!" Hotaru slapped the top of the paper.

"In all fairness, you should’ve told her that," Jotou remarked.

"I didn’t think I needed to say that, she’s filled up documents before! And I saw her flipping pages," Hotaru checked every page and even on the first one, "You haven’t answered anything," she faced Asobi.

"Well, I don’t know if I’m ready to date Henry yet!"

"There’s no date and there’s no Henry!" Hotaru threw the mock test on the table. "You had an hour! I thought you were stuck on a question on the first page or something!"

"In all fairness, you could’ve checked if she was filling up the answers," the blonde pressed her lips together.

Hotaru’s eyes glazed over... and she slowly turned her head to Jotou, "Do you want to do it? Because I swear to you, she was definitely moving her pencil," she flipped the page and wrinkled the paper with her tense fingers.

Hotaru flapped the papers in front of Jotou’s eyes. On the multiple simple mathematic questions, there were random stick figures and little butterfly doodles all over. "I see..."

"Hmmmm... What if on the test, I make you guys invisible and you can direct my hand to the right answer!" Asobi suggested.

"Why don’t you just make one of us look like you and take the test for you?" Jotou chimed in.

"Ooo, that’s even better!"

"No Sobi, that’s cheating," Hotaru sighed. "You said you want to be educated and learn things. If you just cheat, then what’s the point? You’ll graduate with no meaning whatsoever.

There’s no shortcuts here. Besides, this is the entrance exam made for first years, you can’t be giving up and cheating here already," Hotaru whined.

"Yeah, wait till the 8th Year, then you can start cheating."

"Jotou!"

"Kidding~" the blonde giggled and nudged her cheek into the side of Hotaru’s head. "Come on, be patient. She just got confused on the name and date; she hasn’t tackled the questions quite yet. You can do better, right Sobi?" she eyed the elf.

Asobi gave a determined nod, "I’ll try again!"

"Alright..." Hotaru pushed Jotou off with a smile. "Erase all the doodles and try again."

The front door opened up, "Food has awrived!" Through it, Kineko ran into the house and sat at the stairs to take her boots off.

"Ooo, can we eat first?" Asobi got up.

"Fine, fine," Hotaru bundled up the papers and stationary.

"How’s the studying going?" Kazuo shut the door behind him with a few plastic bags in his hand.

"Asobi declined a date with Henry," Jotou replied.

Kazuo gave a squint... "Well, I’m sorry for Henry..."

Hotaru massaged her forehead, "She didn’t know she was supposed to write her name on the paper and took an hour to figure out what date meant and whether or not to ’decline’ it."

He pursed his lips in response... With a shake of his head, he suddenly looked up. "Kiddo, stop glaring at me from the stairs."

Fumeko, who was hidden behind the railing upstairs, frowned, "You’re taking her out pretty often. She’s already gotten to go out more than I did for half a year."

He sighed and raised the plastic bags, "I got fish and chips for lunch."

Two hands slowly curled around the railing and a head peered over, "...What fish?"

"Horned pollock."

Shadows appeared down the stairway right behind Kineko. Fumeko glared to her father... Then silently reached her hand out.

"You’ll smell fish for days in your room kid. Eat downstairs."

Fumeko rolled her eyes and blinked to the dining table.

"Didn’t realize you were picky with fish," Jotou uttered.

"She’ll eat any fish, this is just her favourite type," Kazuo set the food on the table. "Two haddocks, two horned pollocks, grilled angel-trout for me and beer battered prawns for the one who doesn’t like fish," he got the last bag out and pushed it to Jotou.

Jotou looked into the paper bag and licked her lips to see dozens of prawns and a large container of white sauce with a lemon to the side.

"And finger chips," Kazuo got out multiple wrapped cones of still hot, golden fries. Hotaru and Asobi took a bag with haddock each.

"Wait, why are there two horned pollocks?" Fumeko leered.

"Cause your sister wanted what you were having," Kazuo crunched up the empty plastic bags.

"Does the fishy have howrns like a demon?" Kineko jumped next to the table as she queried Fumeko.

"Hey Sobi, I’m suddenly feeling like eating haddock, wanna switch?" Fumeko crossed her arms.

"Oh sure, I don’t mind! I don’t know what either tastes like," Asobi was about to switch the paper bags before Hotaru grabbed Asobi’s wrist to stop her.

"Meko, now you’re just being petty," the redhead looked to the brunette.

With a huffed groan Fumeko swiped the bag with the horned pollock and blinked to the sofas.

Kazuo just, let it be... "Don’t get the cushions dirty kiddo."

With the plates out on the table, they all sat down to eat; except Fumeko who ate out of the bag whilst setting the container of sauce on the armrest of the triple sofa.

She rolled down the bag and unwrapped the fish within oil-stained white paper. Beer battered it was, but the fillet had an odd shape. There were two horns at the front side poking out left and right with a bone-like texture under the golden brown crispiness.

As much as she tried to pout, her mouth salivated in delight. No utensils needed, she squeezed the lemon slice, dug straight into the fillet and dipped it into the sauce.

She hid her smile as she savoured the flavour and firm meat. She could tell this was from one of her favourite restaurants by the garlic and light pepper seasoning.

However, her amusement died the second she noticed a little figure running over to her with a plate in her hands. Fumeko took her sauce and scooched away from the incoming Kineko.

The excited Kineko took it as an invitation and clambered up the sofa with her plate of the same fish and sauce at the side. She settled into the seats next to her and adjusted the napkin tucked into her collar.

Fumeko shifted further to the left. Kineko scooched closer to the left. Fumeko blinked to the end of the sofa with her meal and set her sauce on the other armrest. Kineko looked at her sister wide-eyed and scooched a greater distance till she squeezed into her side.

The brunette grumbled and pressed herself into the armrest the most she could. Kineko stuck a fork in it, then looked to her sister; she then decided to ditch the fork and dig in with her hands.

Fumeko ripped the fillet and removed the fish bones before dipping and eating. Kineko poked her finger in and recoiled from the mild heat of the flesh. "Big sis Meko, how do I eat this?"

"Get away from me," she said without a glance.

"Mmm..." Kineko pouted and looked back to her food. The little girl dug her nails in and ripped the flesh, making a mess of flakes and batter bits. She poked the horns and realizing they were bones, pushed them aside to her bone pile.

"Don’t get rid of the most delicious part," Fumeko side-eyed.

Kineko looked up with curiosity.

"You’re not supposed to throw away the horns," Fumeko reached over and turned the horn upside down, where bits of white flesh were under. "Dig your fingers in there or suck it out.

There’s plenty of flesh," Fumeko moved on to her own plate and took her horn. She dug out some flesh and savoured the taste, "It tastes a bit like crab."

Kineko tried it out for herself and tasted the meat, "It’s so yummy!"

"Obviously," Fumeko continued to eat.

A minute or so went by in silence between the two... "Big sis, when you go into the shadows," she sniffled and wiped her nose, "what is it like?" she continued chewing.

"Don’t talk with your mouth full."

"But, you’re talking with your mouth full too!"

"It’s fine when I do it!" Fumeko gulped down.

"That seems unfair," Kineko tilted her head.

"Life’s not fair, deal with it," Fumeko huffed and ate the next piece of her meal.

Kineko continued eating without a second say.

...

"As for the blinking..." Fumeko parted her lips. Kineko paid close attention. "As long as it’s where I looked to, that’s where I’ll appear. I step into shadow and for a second, I don’t see anything. Before I appear, I kinda see a bit before I come out.

Sometimes, before I appear I can blink again, so it almost looks like I never appeared there at all and then show up somewhere else from when I first disappeared."

"Woah... Big sis Meko is so epic!"

"Well..." Fumeko pouted to the side, "Obviously," she said a little softer. "What did you even understand of what I said?"

"Mmm, big sis goes into wooshy-woosh and then goes anywhewre you want," she chewed more fish. "And it’s vewry duhk."

Fumeko sighed, "Close enough." She looked away and finished her food. Though, she didn’t really mind the intrigued Kineko bumping into her on the sofa for now...