Psychological Warfare with an Old Friend
After the siblings finished distributing all the food across the table, they finally took their seats. Kana returned to the spot next to me where she had originally been sitting, while Malcolm…
“Please, help yourselves.”
“Thank you, Malcolm. It looks delicious!”
“Haha, it’s nothing. I did make it myself, but it can’t compare to Ilena’s skills. I hope it suits your taste.”
Saying that, he casually slid into the seat beside Ilena.
“They say the prettier it looks, the better it tastes, right? I’m sure it’ll be good.”
“I hope so. Ahaha…”
He was trying to hide his true feelings and act casual around her, but every time Ilena spoke, that pleased smile kept slipping out. He couldn’t stop it.
Malcolm naturally turned to me as well.
“Roen, your face has only gotten better with age, hasn’t it? I thought you were handsome even as a kid, but now I’d say you’ve properly ripened.”
“You look like you haven’t aged a day, Malcolm. Anyone who saw us would think you were the younger one. What’s your secret?”
“Secret? There isn’t one. I just heard a lot about you from Ilena. Right?”
“Ehehe…”
With Ilena between us, Malcolm spoke to me while sneaking subtle glances at her whenever he could. Staring openly would have been too obvious and uncomfortable, so he had positioned himself at just the right angle to look at her naturally. He had spent his whole life in this village—where on earth had he learned those city-slicker techniques?
“Good grief. Ilena, exactly how much have you been telling people about me, and what?”
“Is that strange? I don’t think I talked about you that much.”
“You talked about Roen every time you opened your mouth. On top of that, you asked me tons of questions about his old stories too. For example…”
Malcolm smiled knowingly, aware of what he was about to say.
“Remember the first time you ran away from home, Roen? You got lost in the forest, cried your eyes out, and the elders had to come rescue you.”
“That story surprised me. I always assumed you’d be perfectly put-together.”
“Put-together? Not even close. Even back then, Roen looked flawless at first glance, but he had plenty of human flaws scattered everywhere. The reason he got rescued was because he was bawling at the top of his lungs.”
“Ugh…”
That was true. I had tried running away twice. The first attempt had been doomed from the start—I was too young and had left without any plan whatsoever. When Ilena heard about the loud crying, she burst into bright laughter.
“I can’t picture it. Roen crying that loudly.”
“It was so loud the village elders couldn’t possibly have missed it. I’d love to hear it again someday. And also…”
“But!” Kana, who had been focused intently on eating, swallowed what was in her mouth and jumped in. “Brother, you were saved by that same Roen before, weren’t you? Right?”
“Th-that? When was that?” Malcolm looked slightly flustered now that the target had suddenly shifted to him.
“Don’t tell me you forgot about that time we were playing in the forest and ran into wolves. If Roen hadn’t been there, we all would’ve been wolf food.”
Ah, so that’s what she meant. There had been a time when Malcolm, Kana, and I were playing in the forest and encountered wolves.
“Roen stood in front of the wolf with his eyes wide open, remember? He faced it bravely with nothing but a wooden stick. The wolf ran away because of that terrifying glare—don’t you remember?”
“That did happen. But maybe the wolf just wasn’t hungry?”
“No way!” Kana shouted at Malcolm’s attempt to brush it off, then grabbed my face and turned it toward Ilena and Malcolm. “Don’t you remember what Roen’s eyes looked like back then? Brother, quick! Make that face again!”
Back when we faced the wolf, I had confronted it with the resolve that if it attacked us, it wouldn’t walk away unscathed either. It wasn’t driven by a survival instinct hoping we’d somehow live—it was the determination that even if I died there, I wouldn’t let it touch them.
Now, of course, wolves were nothing to me. I had been about to laugh it off since they were laughably easy these days. But I couldn’t simply dismiss it—Ilena was staring at me with sparkling eyes.
“Uh, um…?”
“Show me, dear.”
“Even if you suddenly ask…”
I hurriedly put some strength into my eyes and furrowed my brows a little. The reaction was better than expected.
“Pfft…”
Ilena couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing at my expression. Malcolm was also pressing his lips tightly together, clearly fighting back laughter.
“What? What is it? What kind of face did he make?”
Kana turned my face however she pleased, then smirked with one corner of her mouth lifted. “Roen, that’s kind of a letdown. Even a handsome face can look that weird, huh.”
“You’re the one who ordered me to do it out of nowhere and that’s what you say?”
“But what I ordered wasn’t that funny expression.”
“We can laugh and talk about it now, but back then I was truly desperate. If you knew what I was feeling at that moment…”
“Sorry. Here, ah~”
Kana shoved some food into my mouth to shut me up. It was the familiar taste Malcolm’s mother used to make whenever I visited their house as a child. It wasn’t overly strong like city food, but soft, subtle, and nostalgic. A smile rose to my lips without thinking.
“How is it? Good?”
“It’s delicious. Did your mom make this?”
“No, Malcolm and I made it. I’m so glad you like it, Roen!”
“Not bad at all. You’ve inherited your mother’s skills perfectly. You might even surpass her someday.”
“Hehe…”
When sincere praise came from my mouth, Kana beamed with a wide smile. Seeing that, Malcolm jumped in as if he had been waiting for the chance.
“Your dream came true, Kana.”
“Dream?”
“You started learning to cook because you wanted to make delicious food for Roen. You even said you wanted to marry him when you grew up.”
“Brother!!”
This was the first I had heard of any of this. When I turned to look at Kana, her face had turned bright red in an instant.
“But look! Roen is incredibly handsome!”
So in the end, it was all because of my face. I felt a slight pang of disappointment, but then Kana added, “And unlike our weakling brother Malcolm, he’s really cool, right? He even chased away wolves.”
“I told you, the wolf probably just wasn’t hungry.”
“No! Anyway, it’s basically like I’ve owed him my life since that day.”
As she spoke, Kana glanced at me cautiously. For the first time, she couldn’t meet my eyes directly and turned her head away.
“That’s why I was going to marry you. There aren’t any other options in a rural village like this anyway.”
“That’s what Kana says. What do you think, Roen? You’re back in your hometown now—how about marrying Kana?”
“Kyaaak, brother!!”
At Malcolm’s words, Kana shook violently in surprise, then jumped up from her seat and started hitting him.
“Brother, shut up! Shut your mouth already!”
“Ow… It hurts, it hurts! But Kana, you cried so much when Roen didn’t come back. You didn’t eat for days.”
“Shut up, shut up…!”
So that was how Kana had been when I left. It made me feel quite guilty.
“Kana, is that true?”
“…”
When I asked, Kana stopped hitting Malcolm. Then she suddenly whirled around and dashed out of the village hall.
“Kana! Where are you going!”
Malcolm shouted after her, but it seemed she had no intention of returning.
“Roen, shouldn’t you go after her?”
Even though his own sister had run out, Malcolm was trying to push the responsibility onto me.
“You did all the provoking and now you’re saying that?”
“But what can I do when she likes you that much? Do you know how much she clung to Ilena, asking endless questions about you?”
“Kana did that?”
“She never got tired of hearing your stories no matter how many times she listened. That’s how much she liked you. It seems she still does.”
Listening to this, it didn’t feel like something we should be laughing about together. No matter how close a brother he was, casually bringing up his sister’s sensitive feelings like that…
“…This is a headache.”
“Dear.”
At that moment, Ilena placed her hand on my shoulder.
“Ilena?”
“You should go after her.”
Ilena looked into my eyes with serious intensity and nodded.
“It’s better if you go now.”
“All right.”
With no other choice, I stood up. Malcolm watched me rise with a meaningful look in his eyes.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of Ilena while you’re gone.”
“Malcolm, it looks like I need to sit down with you alone soon.”
“Anytime for a seat with an old friend. It’d be better if Kana joins us too. Now hurry and go. She’s going to cry.”
As expected, twelve years was too long a time to ignore. The tone of Malcolm’s voice and the look in his eyes no longer held any trace of the kind, innocent boy from our childhood.
I had returned to my hometown hoping to live more comfortably, yet here I was, caught in this psychological warfare…
“I’ll be back then.”
“Be careful, dear. It’s getting dark.”
“Thanks for worrying. Oh, right.”
I paused before leaving and asked Ilena, “You didn’t tell anyone else about that, did you?”
“About what?”
“About how we’re in a relationship where we know everything about each other.”
“Huh…?”
Ilena tilted her head in confusion. The real reaction came from Malcolm instead.
“Hey, Roen. What the hell does that mean? Weren’t you and Ilena just coworkers? A relationship where you know everything about each other—what does that…!”
“Oh, I’d better get going. See you!”
Without waiting to hear the rest, I dashed out of the village hall.
“Hey, Roen!!”
Malcolm called desperately from behind, but I never looked back.