Fu: Hwah...
	I start off each day by making breakfast.
	It's my job to make food for the entire household... though it is just me and my little sister.
	My little sister Itsuki can't cook at all.
	Though honestly, just the thought of Itsuki holding a kitchen knife makes my heart drop, so I don't even think about letting her try.
	But I should at least teach her how to cook before marrying her off.
	Fu: ...welp, guess it's about time.
	The bacon and eggs have turned just the right color.
	The vegetable soup on the other burner looks just about ready too.
	I've gotten quite good at cooking more than two simple dishes at once.
	Back when Itsuki and I started living alone two years ago, I was always panicking with a cookbook in one hand. It's amazing how accustomed I've become.
	I turn off the burners for the pot and the frying pan and distribute the bacon, eggs, and soup.
Fu: Okay, next comes...
	I take off my apron and put two slices of bread into the toaster.
	Then I leave the kitchen for Itsuki's room.
Fu: Itsuki--
Fu: Wake up, it's morning.
Itsuki: Zzz...
Fu: Sleeping as soundly as ever...
	I'd like to let her sleep more, but I'd be a failure of a parental figure if I let her get to school late.
Fu: Get up already.
	I shake Itsuki's body.
Itsuki: Zzz... Yuna-san, Togo-sempai, you guys run away... I'll hold her back...
	She's even protecting her friends in her dreams. I expect nothing less from a member of the hero club... but still, wake up already.
Itsuki: Run away... before Onee-chan... eats all the food... in the world...
	The hell kind of dream are you having!?
Fu: C'mon, c'mon, wake up~!
	I shake Itsuki even more strongly.
	And finally, she opens her eyes.
	She weakly blinks over and over, still seemingly unwilling to get out of bed.
Itsuki: Y-eah... thank goodness... Onee-chan... you didn't eat too much...
Fu: I'm kinda worried about what kind of dream you had, but for now just hurry up and get changed.
	I get back to the kitchen after waking Itsuki up right when the toast is done toasting.
Fu: Achchch
	I add the piping hot toast to the plates with the bacon and eggs.
	I suddenly notice something by my feet and look down.
	Inugami's moving to and fro by my feet.
	He's not really playing, though; more like saying "Hey, give me food already!"
Fu: Okay, okay. I'll get it ready for you, so just hold on a bit.
	I get the dog food off the shelf and put it in front of Inugami in a dog bowl.
	Inugami happily munches on the dog food.
Fu: It's dog food... right...?
	Feels kind of weird that a fairy would eat the same sort of thing as a normal dog.
	Though I guess it's better than him eating other fairies like Yuna's Gyuki.
	These guys are more like pets than fairies.
	I lightly pet Inugami, but he's too focused on eating to notice.
	In the meantime, Itsuki finally comes out into the living room.
Itsuki: Good morning... Onee-chan...
Fu: Food's ready.
Itsuki: Mm...
Itsuki: Uugh, vegetable soup. What's in it?
Fu: Bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots...
Itsuki: Ehhhh~!? But those are all my least favorite vegetables!
Fu: Just kidding. But really, if you added all those vegetables into the same soup, you'd be treading on bizarre food territory.
Itsuki: You could've made me eat it just to mess with me.
Fu: If I really wanted to mess with you, then I'd make it really delicious instead.
Itsuki: Hoh...
Fu: Ah, but there are carrots in it, though.
Itsuki: Ehhh~
	Her likes and dislikes do need some adjustment, after all.
	She's already in middle school, after all.

	After breakfast, it's time to head to school.
	We commute by bike.
Fu: Got your textbooks, notebooks, handkerchief, and tissues?
Itsuki: Yup, good to go!
Fu: Remember to do your homework?
Itsuki: More or less...
	Your eyes are wandering, Itsuki...
Fu: Okay, let's go then.
Itsuki: Okay.
	We pedal off in the early summer weather.
	The season's trademark heat wraps our skin.
Fu: Gotten used to school yet?
Itsuki: Yup. Nobody's mean in class. But the lessons are harder than in elementary school... especially math...
Fu: I'll help you out if there's anything you don't understand.
Itsuki: Since when were you good at studying, Onee-chan?
Fu: I'm not <i>good</i>... but I can at least teach a first year a thing or two! I am a third year, you know.
	I get to my classroom with time to spare before classes begin.
Fu: Phew...
	When I put down my bag on my desk, a friend sitting close by starts talking to me.
♀Classmate A: Hey, Fu-chan, have you filled out your high school choice questionnaire?
Fu: Eh...? Ah crap, I forgot...
	Ah man... I sounded so smug when I asked Itsuki if she remembered her homework, yet I forgot to do my own.
	I'm such a failure.
	I haven't even begun to think of high school choices.
	But since we're already third years, the teachers are already asking us about our high school choices.
	I've been so focused on Vertexes and my service as a hero that I guess I never really thought about high school.
	But as heroes, we've got a deep connection with the Taisha now.
	You could even say that our each and every move is under Taisha surveillance.
	I'm not even sure if I can choose my own high school on my own.
♀Classmate A: Well, the teacher said that we can turn it in next week if we still haven't made up our minds. I actually haven't decided yet either.
♀Classmate A: So, can I ask you for some advice?
Fu: But I haven't even made my own mind up yet either.
♀Classmate A: Well, it just kinda helps me sort out my thoughts when I talk to you.
Fu: Do I look like some sort of consulting booth to you?
♀Classmate A: I think you'd make a great counselor or fortuneteller when you grow up.
	Don't just go deciding my future on your own.
	Besides, Itsuki'd make a way better fortuneteller than me.
♀Classmate B: Inubozaki-san! Mind if I ask you for some advice? About the culture festival program...
Fu: Ahahah...
♀Classmate A: People sure depend on you, huh. Well, you're just a dependable person by nature, Fu-chan.
	True, my classmates do often ask me for advice.
	But I think it's got less to do with my nature and more to do with me being the leader of the Hero Club, which is almost like the convenience store of school clubs.
	But by my nature...? Nah, definitely not.
Class Chairman: Stand up! Bow! Worship!
	I head to the club room after class.
	I guess for today's club agenda, we'll discuss our regular volunteer work at the orphanage.
Fu: Sorry for the wait, guys! Club head, barging in!
Karin: It's not like we were waiting for you.
Yuna: Time to chillax, Fu-sempai!
Fu: Time to what?
Togo: It's a word that's getting popular in our class. It's apparently teen slang from an era long ago.
Itsuki: Ah, they said that word on the last "Teens from the Past" segment on TV.  It's catching on a little in my class too.
Fu: Weird words are catching on, huh...
Fu: Well, whatever. More importantly, today's club activity. So about our next visit to the orphanage...
Fu: Oh, look at the time. Let's disband for today.
Yuna: Wanna go eat ramen on the way home?
Fu: Ah, sounds good... but I'll have to pass for today. I gotta go buy groceries.
Fu: So with that said, I'll be heading to the shopping district! See you tomorrow!
	School and club work may be hectic, but my daily work's only beginning.
Fu: Hmm... this cabbage is slightly more expensive...
	I visually compare vegetables at the greengrocer's. I guess it's okay to go with the more expensive one every now and then.
	We get a stipend from the Taisha, so it's not like we're that strapped for cash.
Fu: But the Edo era master swordsman Tsuji Gettan ran a dojo with thousands of disciples while living a lifetime of honorable poverty...
	But even if we can afford it, we mustn't forget to live modestly!
	Though maybe I'm just frugal by nature.
	So I'll go with the cheaper one.
	I'm only buying for two, so I shouldn't buy too much raw food and vegetables or they'll go bad.
	I choose the freshest, best-looking vegetables.
Fu: Sir, I'll take one of these cabbages. And some carrots, bell peppers...
	For now, I'll keep studying ways to cook until I can find a way to get Itsuki to eat the vegetables she's not good with.
	By the time I get home, the sun has already set and it's gotten dim.
	Naturally, making dinner is my job too.
Fu: Dinner's ready, Itsuki
Itsuki: Okay
	After dinner, I tidy up the tableware and track the household finances.
Fu: This month's food expenses, textbook purchases, heat and electricity...
	We live off of our stipend from the Taisha, so we need to report all income and expenditure.
	After I finish the finances, I check my email with my smart phone.
	Messages from the Taisha... nothing in particular.
	Requests for the Hero Club... just one.
	I get all club mail forwarded to my phone.
	Let's see... the request is from the softball club, huh. "Some of our club members have caught the summer cold. We don't have enough people for our next practice match, so please send help".
	Karin and Yuna are good at physical activity, so I'll talk to them.
	I bet Karin will complain about it being "unfitting work for a hero" but cave in and do it in the end.
	I can imagine the look on her face.
Fu: Ah~ Oh right. I should fill out the high school choice questionnaire.
	I pull the questionnaire printout out of my bag.
Fu: ...I'll shoot an email to the Taisha.
	"In regards to high school choices, are we heroes allowed to choose our own high school placement freely?" And--
Itsuki: Oneechan, the bath water's warm-- Huh, whatcha filling out?
Fu: High school choice questionnaire. I need to think of what schools I want to apply for, but I just don't know.
Itsuki: Onee-chan... don't tell me your scores are too low to get into high school?
Fu: My scores aren't that bad.
Fu: Well, you're going to have a lot to think about when you get to third year too, so you better start studying properly right now.
Itsuki: Okaaay
Fu: 'cause if you score low on your finals, I'll feed you nothing but vegetables for dinner.
Itsuki: whatwasthatIdidn'thearnothing ...I'm gonna go take a bath!
Fu: She ran away, huh...
	I was just joking, though. I'm not really going to tell her to do nothing but study her entire middle school career.
Fu: I don't mind about me, but I want Itsuki to be able to choose her own high school and her own future on her own...
	She's only just now gotten into middle school, but one day she'll go to high school, enroll in college, and become a productive member of society...
	Our top priority right now may be our battle with the Vertexes as heroes...
	But after we defeat all the Vertexes, we'll continue our own normal lives without anything to do with hero duty--
Fu: My future self... Itsuki's future self...
	I don't know what will happen to us.
	I fill out my high school choice questionnaire, do my homework, and wash the laundry...
	When I get back to the living room, Itsuki's sleeping in the chair.
	Her notebooks and textbooks are sprawled out on the table.
Itsuki: Zzz...
TV: Next up, the number 2 song...
	There's a music program on TV. Looks like she fell asleep doing her homework while watching TV.
Fu: Geez. Oh well...
	I carry Itsuki on my back.
	Itsuki feels a little heavier than before. She is 12, so she must be growing every day.
	I bring Itsuki to her room and lay her on the bed.
Itsuki: Zzz... Onee-chan...
Fu: You're not having another weird dream again, are you...?
Itsuki: ...I'll... do the cooking today... since you... always do it for me... zzz...
Fu: ...
Itsuki: ...You don't have to worry so much about that.
	Go to school, study, make friends, do club activities...
	I'm glad as long as you can live a normal middle schooler life like that.
	I don't want you to feel restricted or sad because our parents are gone.
	I'll be the one to shoulder that burden.
	So I'll do the housework and the laundry. I'll look after all your needs, Itsuki.
	I put my hands together towards our parent's altar.
Fu: ...
	Itsuki's and my parents passed away 2 years ago.
	They got caught in the incident where the prototype heroes repelled the Vertexes... that is, the "Battle of the Seto Ohashi Bridge Ruins".
	The one who told me of our parents' death was a Taisha messenger.
	I nearly fainted from the shock when I heard the news.
	It... wasn't easy accepting that Mom and Dad had died.
	But I couldn't stay depressed forever.
	Because I needed to protect Itsuki.
	Now that Mom and Dad are gone, I'm all that she has.
	The Taisha messenger told me to become a watchdog for one hero group.
	And in return, Itsuki's and my living expenses would be guaranteed.
	Since I was only in my first year of middle school, I had no means of raising Itsuki on my own, so I had no choice but to accept.
	The Taisha secretly gathers data on all Shikoku girls' aptitude to the hero system.
	My aptitude was apparently high.
	I took hero battle training while forming a group of system compatible girls just as the Taisha directed.
	That was the Hero Club.
	Several groups of compatible girls like it exist.
	Not even the Taisha knew which group would awaken the next time the Vertexes arrived.
	It was by unfortunate chance that we awoken.
	But at the same time, I might have actually been happy about it.
	Because now I can avenge my parents by killing Vertexes.
Fu: But I... got Itsuki wrapped into the battles, and stole away her 'normal life'...
	I destroyed my own wish to "let Itsuki live a normal life".
	So in order to prevent Itsuki's "normal life" from getting destroyed any further--
	I need to be Itsuki's ideal older sister, elder, and mother...
	I must protect both Itsuki and the Inubozaki name.
Fu: Isn't that right? Mom... Dad...?
	Obviously, I don't get a response.
Fu: ...Now then, all the housework's done, so I guess I'll go take a bath and sleep too.
Fu: We've got a request from the softball club, so we'll be sending out me, Karin, and Yuna!
Karin: Softball? That's unfitting work for a hero!
Fu: What's the difference between swinging a sword and swinging a bat?
Karin: Are you insulting my swordsmanship...? Well let me use this opportunity to teach you a thing or two--!
Fu: Hmmm, well let me use this opportunity to teach you some respect for your sempai. I'll show you who's better at swinging things!
Yuna: Ahh, Fu-sempai and Karin-chan ran off-- I gotta stop them...
Togo: Karin-chan's rebellious spirit is a problem, but Fu-sempai's a little childish... Sometimes it even seems like Itsuki-chan's the older one.
Itsuki: Heheh, that's not true at all. I know... a true side of Onee-chan that nobody else knows.