Rehabilitation-2
The older sister kept flipping through the channels, trying to distract her however she could.
Now that she was walking a bit, but still not fully recovered, taking her to the mall for shopping? That wouldn’t do.
“...Uum.”
But every time the girl fidgeted in her arms, the sister repeated the thought she had earlier.
A thin slip top and a loose cardigan.
Put a chiffon skirt on her.
Since the girl always wore pants, make it a long skirt that reached the ankles.
“Kuueung.”
An instinctive moan escaped her.
The sister pondered for a long time before deciding.
Honestly... just thinking about it was fun.
For three years she had done nothing but shop or whatever, never thinking about anything, and now going to a department store or somewhere and thinking about spending money made her heart race.
And imagining that her cute little sister would be wearing it made it even harder to hold back.
Soon the sister made up her mind.
“Hmm.”
First, if she just said let’s go shopping, the girl wouldn’t go, so she needed to create a situation where she had no choice but to leave the house.
She had said she wanted a place with many animals, so it didn’t have to be a zoo.
Then a ranch would be good, perhaps?
Taking a shuttle bus would be inconvenient, so make it a smaller place.
The sister held the girl and searched for ranches on her phone.
Not too big, not dirty, and where you could touch the animals.
It was a pretty demanding condition, but she found one quickly.
Because in this era you couldn’t maintain a ranch with just livestock byproducts anymore.
The altitude was quite high.
If it was around 800 to 900 meters, even in summer you would need thick clothes, so she would have to buy new ones.
Since she had promised not to get hurt or in pain, if she mentioned that, the girl wouldn’t listen?
While thinking that...
As her excitement gradually subsided, the sister could recall what she had said, and suddenly realized.
This... wasn’t this a bad thing?
It was a promise to get along nicely...
Even though the girl wasn’t refusing to listen, was this okay?
“Kuueeung...”
No, honestly, Rin would have said let’s do online shopping.
Then she would choose pants.
Then she would never see her in skirts...
...That was what she didn’t want.
The sister’s heart kept wavering back and forth like a reed.
She closed her eyes tightly on the wavering heart, then soon gathered her resolve and waited for the girl to stand up.
And when the girl opened her eyes, the sister hugged her as if waiting and showed her the ranch’s homepage.
“Uwa?”
“A place with many animals, how about here?”
“A ranch.”
“Yeah, a ranch. Zoos or places like that have a lot of people, so let’s go there next, how about coming here?”
There was a slight sense of guilt, but the main reason she chose the ranch was that.
If it was a place with many animals, it was a zoo, but zoos had a lot of people no matter what day you went.
On weekends there would be families, on weekdays couples.
Either way, it was a landmine.
The girl showed hatred when talking about family, and university couples would feel inferior while envying.
“Ranch.”
“How is it?”
“It’s good.”
The girl nodded her head while hesitating a bit.
Although she hadn’t been there, since there were animals.
Whether sheep or cows, if she met them, maybe she could sort out her feelings about family?
“...”
It felt like something was rising up, anger.
It wasn’t like this before.
It seemed like she needed to try harder, but strangely her chest felt tight and she wanted to shout.
Why?
If she was angry, the family should be the one, not her...
“Rin?”
“Ah, ah. Um, no.”
The girl opened her mouth blankly, then snapped back to the sister’s voice.
When she looked up, she saw the sister’s face worrying about her.
The girl smiled reflexively.
It’s okay.
But since she rarely smiled, it became an awkward expression.
“Ah, it’s not like it’s painful or hard.”
An awkward smile that she could feel herself.
With that smile the girl said it as an excuse, and the sister stroked the girl’s hair while sparing her words.
And as the girl’s smile slowly faded, she opened her mouth again.
“By the way, this place is quite high up. So it seems I need to buy new clothes, how about going shopping together?”
“Eh?”
The girl showed a surprised expression at the sister’s words.
Suddenly clothes?
Was it not okay with the clothes she was wearing now?
It was still wearable...
The girl thought that and looked at the sister.
And the sister, as if reading the girl’s thoughts, explained the reason for buying clothes.
“It’s a bit chilly at night, right? You borrow my coat every time we go for a walk. And the size doesn’t match.”
“Ah.”
“Even if it’s just walking around for ten minutes, it’s fine, but if we go there, even if it’s not, we’ll have to walk for two hours, it would be uncomfortable. Buy clothes. If you catch a cold in summer, it won’t come off easily.”
“Uuu...”
“...If it’s too uncomfortable, shall I order it online?”
The girl flinched at the sister’s words and looked at the sister.
For some reason the sister had an expectant expression for shopping.
Honestly she didn’t really like shopping.
When she was little and went shopping with mom, she had to change into the same looking clothes many times.
So even if she bought it, she would just come back sometimes.
Some kids seemed to enjoy the process itself, but the girl wasn’t that type.
So honestly she didn’t want to go.
“Uuwong.”
But when she saw the sister, she couldn’t say she didn’t want to.
She was putting her to bed at home and feeding her, so at least not following to shopping.
“I’ll go.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, yes.”
This time, how many times would she change clothes?
And how many times would she just leave the store and check the clerk’s eyes?
Just imagining it, the girl felt her energy drain and drooped her shoulders, burying her body in the sister.
“Uuwuung...”
...No cigarette smell.
She could smell it if she concentrated, but it was a bit lacking.
Why? It was a smell she didn’t like, but since there was none, it felt empty somewhere.
Of course she couldn’t say to light a cigarette...
The girl blinked with a complicated heart, then closed her eyes again.
But whether because she had slept well or not, the girl couldn’t sleep.
“Um.”
“Shall we go for a walk?”
“...! Yes.”
In the midst of that, naturally going for a walk, the girl nodded her head vigorously.
“Then put this on.”
Because it was spring, the temperature fluctuated.
Today it was strangely cold, so the sister lent her coat to the girl, and the girl smelled it once unnecessarily, then followed the sister.
And after going outside, she looked around the direction of the smoking area for no reason.
Glance-glance-.
The sister tilted her head at the girl’s gaze.
Maybe she wanted to learn to smoke?
No particular sign, but...
“Rin, do you want to learn to smoke?”
Since she was an adult, she could smoke if she wanted.
The sister thought that while looking at the girl, and the girl shook her head left and right at the sister’s question.
She hadn’t particularly wanted to smoke.
“Then? You’ve been looking there since earlier.”
The sister pointed to the smoking booth and matched gazes.
The girl fiddled with her fingers at the sister’s gaze and covered her face with her sleeve.
Her breathing became slightly louder then quieter.
“N-no.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“Uueung?”
It was a bit hesitant, and there seemed to be something.
The sister thought that, but when the girl held her hand tightly, she stopped thinking.
It didn’t seem like she had broken the promise.
Since it wasn’t painful or hard, she didn’t really want to ask.
“...Can I smoke?”
After organizing the girl’s actions like that, the sister suddenly felt her fingers tingle.
She hadn’t smoked in a few days...?
It didn’t seem like much, but she wanted to smoke a little.
“...! Yes.”
So she asked for permission, the girl nodded with an oddly bright expression.
Really, oddly.
The sister blinked quickly, then flinched at the girl’s appearance of bringing her sleeve back to her face.
She thought she was trying to cover her face, but it was smelling the scent...
...Cigarette scent?
It would be a scent even smokers wouldn’t like?
“Tha...”
Should she ask?
The sister pondered for a moment, but seeing the girl’s red ear tips, she chuckled.
Since she was cute, maybe overlook it?
“Are you cold?”
“Yeah? Ah...”
The girl tilted her head at the sister’s out-of-the-blue words.
But since she was definitely cold, the girl nodded.
“Then shall we go back quickly? I want to watch the movie I couldn’t see earlier.”
“Yeah, yes.”
When the sister turned her body toward the smoking area, the girl smiled slightly and changed her steps.
Not dragging her legs like before, but firmly stepping with her feet.
There was still a slight limp, but the sister smiled small at the clearly improved appearance and followed the girl’s back.
The sister entered the smoking area and lit a cigarette while receiving the girl’s gaze.
“Huu...”
With a crackling sound, the orange light attached.
The cigarette lighter resembling the night view from the observatory, the girl stared hypnotized, then slowly leaned her body on the sister.
The scent of the cigarette was there.
A bitter, pungent aroma that calmed the mind.
Among perfumes, there was smoky scent, wasn’t this really smoky scent?
The girl had such meaningless thoughts while leaning on the sister’s arm, and the sister felt the girl’s weight and slowly smoked the cigarette.