小嫂子的味道

"I\'m sorr—" 

Before I could say any further I felt a sudden heat on my left cheek as Anya\'s hand connected right to it. I had not expected her to slap me. 

"Just how many times are you gonna say sorry!" she sounded irritated. 

I touched my cheek and felt her slap while I tried to make meaning of what she had said. Looking up at her I saw that she was still crying and her face was distorted in a sad expression. 

\'Ah…\' 

I didn\'t know why I was so dense when it came to things like this—perhaps because I had never truly cared for anyone till now. 

Realizing what I had to do I stood up—although it proved to be a little hard due to the weakness. Once I was standing I took a step forward and put my arms around her, hugging her. 

"I apologize for behaving this way, but now I\'m here right beside you. You don\'t have to worry anymore, you can rest assured now," I said while hugging her. 

Suddenly she wrapped her arms around me as well and hugged me tightly and started to cry even harder. Or well, I would say that now was the time she was really crying. 

Until now she had been bottling up her feelings inside her since she had our parents to take care of and she couldn\'t afford to let her be too vulnerable due to the current situation humanity was in. 

However, now that I—her brother—was here, she could finally let it all out and cry without a care in the world. 

She cried, sobbed, and moaned. From her voice, I could feel how much pain she\'d felt past these days, and knowing that made me feel like crying too.

Unfortunately, being able to cry was a luxury I did not have. 

Soon she completely leaned herself on me and I was forced to sit back down on the bed, although she still didn\'t let go of me. She kept crying and sobbing for about ten minutes and all that time I kept her in my embrace and rubbed her head. 

Once she was done she leaned her head up and looked at me. 

"Sorry…" she said.

"Hmm? For what?" 

"For acting that way…I was blaming you for being ignorant about my and our parents\' feelings while I ended up doing the same thing. You must have gone through a lot too. I\'m sorry for treating you that way."

"No, I don\'t think it was your fault. You were stressed and it\'s true that I caused you pain. Plus, I think I needed that scolding," I said. 

"Also sorry for one more thing…" she said, looking up at me. 

"Yes?"

"For dampening your chest…" she said in a low voice. 

"Ah…" to be honest, I hadn\'t noticed that before. "Don\'t worry, that\'s not a big deal."

After that, she stood up and sat back on the stool while giving me a towel to wipe my chest. 

\'I think I should ask them for a shirt first,\' I thought while wiping my chest. 

"Is everything else alright?" I asked.

"For the most part, yeah. The majority of the academy students were transported here and a good number of civilians too. Although the total population is even less than half now," she explained. 

"What about father and mother? Where and how are they?" Ryfin had given me an answer before but I wanted to ask her too. 

"They are currently staying at the refugee camp since we don\'t have enough money to buy a house for ourselves," she replied.

"Wait, does that mean?" 

"Yeah, they are doing jobs too. In order to support themselves," Anya stated. 

"What type of jobs?"

"Jobs that are not suited for nobles."

"Damn it…" I mumbled as I clenched my fist. I got them here safe and sound but now they were most likely doing labor to earn a living. 

I wanted to change that, no, I had to change that. I had to find out more about this new academy too and check how much things have strayed from the plot of the novel. I had to make myself stronger also since being out in the calamity made me realize that my current level was not enough to survive in the post-calamity world. I had to do a few other things I had in mind too. 

There were a lot of things I had to take off now. Just because I had gotten out of the calamity and brought my family to a safe place, didn\'t mean that all my problems had ended. 

If I had to say it in the cliché way, they were just starting. 

"Can you give me some clothes?" I asked the nurse. 

"That will be possible. Wait here for a minute," saying that she went to the other room that was connected to the infirmary. 

I began to stand up however just as I did I stumbled. Fortunately, Anya was there to catch me in time. 

"I think you should go eat something. You still look dead," she said. 

"Well, I was just about to go and do that. Also, I don\'t know the way around here so can you show me where I can buy some food?" 

"That won\'t be a problem," she replied. "And yeah, Mr. Ryfin had told me this, he said that you should meet with him after you have stabilized your body and are in a better condition."

"Ryfin huh…" I thought that I\'d gotten rid of him for now but it seemed like he still had some things going on. 

"Fine, I\'ll see him," I said. 

"Also one more thing," Anya mentioned.

"What?" 

"Go take a bath before anything else, you stink."

"Really…?"

"REALLY really."