Little Sister

  After César's party, we all went home to rest. However, a new question arose: Where would my sister sleep since the entire house was already occupied? The solution was for my sister and me to sleep together in my room, just like in the old days.

  The next day, the house fell into the routine of a typical school day once again. César, Tamamo, and Maria went to class. Meanwhile, Mei Ling drove Momo and Kazumi to the Akasaka Press Center to continue working on César’s Walker. It seems they are close to finishing it. Those who stayed behind went to the café because I wanted to show my sister the restaurant where we had worked.

  She was surprised by the restaurant's ambiance and originality, though everything is actually borrowed from César and Nanami’s adventures in Atlantis. I simply limited myself to recording a thing or two. Japanese people love it when details are present in everything. I now know that they prioritize the fantasy atmosphere over the food, but at least we have managed to overcome the fear of closing due to financial losses.

  After midday, I decided to give my little sister a tour of the city, so I called Mei Ling to drive us around in her car. We visited several places, such as Shibuya and Akihabara, and walked through the Imperial family's gardens. In the afternoon, we stopped for a bite to eat at a shopping center.

  "I can’t believe how much fun it is to live here! Everything is so strange—the narrow streets and the crowds of people—but at the same time, everything is organized.”

  "I wish San José could be like this place. Too bad it'll never happen," said my cheerful little sister as she ate her ice cream.

  "Haha, well, it also took me a while to get used to that in the first few months."

  "Although, like any place, it has its pros and cons."

  "I like the city and how kind everyone is, but sometimes I miss Costa Rica."

  "Living in a small town lost in the mountains, surrounded by coffee plantations, knowing everyone in the town.."

  Here, life sometimes feels too fast for my taste.”

  "Well, I guess those are just different ways of seeing the world. " "You’ve been living here much longer, so you notice things a tourist might not."

  "What hurts me the most about this place is never fitting in."

  "To the Japanese, I'll always be the girl from Latin America, not a neighbor."

  "Some people think I'm a permanent tourist and can't believe I have my own café."

  "I thought joining the neighborhood association would help. Even so, every now and then, I run into someone who asks me when I’m going to leave. They seem a little annoyed that I’m living alongside them."

  "This year, they didn't even let me help prepare for the Tsukimi festival at the nearby temple!"

  "I have one of their goddesses living in my house, but they didn't let me get close because they didn't want a gaijin helping."

  "A foreigner."

  "Ah, yes, of course, about that..."

  “Do you really believe all those things?”

  "The people you live with are really strange. How do you manage? Is everything okay?"

  "How do you manage to live with the Snake Girl? I saw her swallow an ostrich egg in the café this morning and get applauded for it!"

  "That thing was huge! It was like seeing a dinosaur egg," said Dama, sounding a bit scared and surprised.

  "Heh...heh...heh..."

  "I think people get used to everything."

  "At first, I was scared of everything. When Cesar returned as a girl, I remember locking myself in the bathroom because my hands were shaking from excitement over seeing him again."

  "Obviously, I never told him, but I felt like I was partly in a dream and partly in a never-ending nightmare.”

  "Now, well, it’s just another way of living. She may be a slime, a kitsune, and a dragon now, but at the end of the day, she’s just another person."

  "She goes to school, helps out at the café, plays video games, and likes food."

  "Really, she’s not a big deal in terms of daily life."

  "I’m glad she’s just Cesar, and we’re living as a family again."

  "The other girls are just that: more girls who live with us and see me as a mother figure that most of them never had."

  "So, it could be said that you're happy your life has become part of a fantasy story," my sister joked.

  "Well, it makes life more enjoyable if you want to look at it that way."

  Next to us, Mei Ling appeared with two coffees.

  "Here's your coffee, Mrs. Adelis. I also brought cream in case it’s too strong,” she said. Then, she simply turned around and sat in a nearby chair to finish her sandwich. My sister kept watching her even after she had walked away.

  "Wow, I can’t believe you have your own private secretary."

  "You must have done well in high society."

  "Mei Ling? Poor thing. She’s been living in the garage because of Cesar.”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "Besides, she acts more like a bodyguard than a secretary."

  "No one hires a secretary just to bring coffee while I’m shopping at the mall.”

  “Hey, wait a second, Miss Super Important! Having a bodyguard is very different from having a secretary!"

  “How did that happen? What does she protect you from? Mugging? In Japan?"

  "..."

  "Terrorism, assassins, robberies—anything, really."

  "I've been kidnapped before. It was her, Cesar, and Tamamo who rescued Maria and me."

  "..."

  "And she's not the only one. Lisa the demon, is with us right now, hiding in my shadow."

  "That's why your ice cream disappeared."

  “?”

  “Hey! That’s mine! Give it back, thief!”

  “...”

  "But Ade, what kind of job do you have? How dangerous is your work that you need a bodyguard?"

  "Honestly, I wouldn't even know how to describe it myself.

  “You could say I’m the coordinator of the Alliance, but in practice, I make sure my Empire doesn’t cause more damage out there.”

  "Oh, right. Now that I think about it, you had mentioned something like that last time we visited Mom."

  “Yes, but I think we’ve talked enough about me."

  "It's my turn to ask questions."

  I want to know how my little sister ended up here in Japan without telling me."

  "At least you should have called me. Maybe I would have gone to the airport to meet you," I said to her.

  “Well, I really wanted to surprise you.”

  Since it was Cesar’s birthday and he had died, I thought you’d be depressed about losing your son. I thought that if I showed up unannounced, I could distract you enough to make you forget about everything that had happened.”

  “Actually, the one who got the real surprise was me.”

  "But hey, it’s better this way, right? Considering how things are at home with the monster girls and all the supernatural stuff,” Dama said, disappointed that her plan had failed so badly.

  “Ha! You talk about my life as if it's supernatural.”

  “The most supernatural thing here is your appearance.”

  “You’re only ten years younger than me, so why do you look so much younger?”

  “I want the secret! I want it now!”

  "Genetics, maybe?" Dama realized the trouble she was in when she looked at my face and understood that this wasn’t a casual chat but an interrogation.

  "We're sisters, idiot, we have the same genes."

  "Tell me what you’re hiding,” I said. Then I snapped my fingers, and Mei Ling turned to look, trying to see if there was a problem.

  “Alright, I confess! It was a new cream!

  “I’ve been using it for a couple of months, please don’t kill me!”

  “Look, I’ll write the name on this paper, just let me say goodbye to my kids first!”

  “Thank you so much for doing business, little sister.”

  “Well, getting serious now, what do you want me to say? I learned from you how to take care of myself.”

  “I’m glad to see that people still mistake me for a teenager every now and then.”

  “But hey, I’m not the only one. You don’t even seem close to the…” Dama didn’t have the courage to finish that sentence, noticing it was really Lisa who was trying to have me before permanently silencing my sister.

  “Well, putting that aside, in the end, how did it go? Did you manage to get the plane ticket?”

  “I understand that lodging is free since you’re staying at my place, but still, I imagine the trip didn’t pay for itself.”

  “Oh, well, about that, actually there’s something I haven’t told you yet.”

  “I’m actually on a business trip.”

  “It’s kind of complicated, so let me see where to start.”

  “.....”

  “Oh, yes, I know!”

  “Do you remember Sharon? Your neighbor?”

  “Oh, great, just when I had forgotten she existed, she shows up again.”

  “??????”

  “Well, anyway, let me explain, Ade!”

  “I imagine you remember her, right?”

  “Well, I have a ton of gossip to tell you!”

  “The thing is, you probably remember that she married several men, right? And that several of them died during the continental war.”

  “Poor things. The last one who survived, Mr. Sanderson, died during the attack on New York.”

  “From what I heard, a missile was deflected and hit the penthouse they had on top of one of those buildings.”

  “So Sharon, despite having so many husbands, ended up widowed in the end.”

  “I heard she made a few mistakes here and there and ended up losing a lot of money.”

  “But what a spoiled yet lucky girl! It turns out she was recently invited again to important parties. Apparently, she was invited by Mr. Jack Daniels to a major event here in Japan.”

  “Jack Daniels, the CEO of Saber Lion Enterprise, one of the big companies in the USA.”

  “They say that very late and quite drunk, she ended up leaving Jack Daniels to go with Mr. Keisuke Fujikawa, the owner of Fujikawa Corporation.”

  “Both men ended up fighting, fistfights! Can you believe it? All over Miss Sharon of all things.”

  “In the end, she chose Mr. Keisuke, I imagine, because of Fujikawa Capital’s designs and maybe to help her get back her makeup line that she still heavily promotes on social media.”

  "Unfortunately, all of that sounds Sharon enough to completely believe it."

  "How the hell would she think that she could have been a good girl enough for Cesar to go out with her?"

  "But what does all of that have to do with you here?"

  "Adelis, you’re not going to believe this!"

  "They’re getting married!"

  "What the !?"

  "Yeah, I can’t believe it either!"

  "Mr. Keisuke Fujikawa is going to marry Sharon, the widow of almost eight men."

  "The poor guy is probably not superstitious, or he thinks he’s Rambo."

  "The thing is, Sharon convinced him to make it a half-Japanese, half-Costa Rican party."

  "They already hired someone from here to choose the venue and the big things."

  "Sharon hired me to organize the Costa Rican part of the party."

  "That’s why she paid for my trip, and I came early to be with you and to start gathering information on how to organize everything and sort out the things that need to be brought."

  "It’s hard to find Lizano sauce here in Japan, you know?"

  "Sharon is getting married again!?"

  "Oh God, now that’s some real gossip."

  Although I didn’t think about it at the time, I should have been smarter. I should have known that if the lives of characters as unlucky as my sister, Cesar, and Sharon crossed in the same place, it was clear that something would happen without a doubt.