From the Bottom to the Top

Volume 1: Chapter 3

“Alya-chan, why did you do that…?”

Maria Kujou walked out of the pantry with a big box in her hands, something which she was struggling to carry because her mind was elsewhere.

A full day had passed, yet the young woman couldn’t stop thinking about her sister’s actions yesterday. The events were still fresh in her mind that it even seemed like she dreamt about the whole thing in her sleep.

Masha was so out of it that she didn’t even notice the person that happened to be walking in front of her, which resulted in her bumping into him.

“—ah!”

“Watch out!”

The sudden collision snapped Masha out of her thoughts, but she was too late to realize that she lost one grip on the box she was carrying. Luckily for her, the person she bumped into grabbed it and kept it from falling out of her hands.

“Masha-san, are you okay?” asked Masachika, sending the older Kujou sibling a look of concern.

“—er, yes! I’m sorry for bumping into you, Kuze-kun.”

“No problem. Here,” he grabbed the other end of the box and checked to see how heavy it was. He blinked in surprise when he felt that it was indeed heavy, too heavy for someone like Masha at least. She’ll definitely need help with this. “I’ll carry it for you.”

“Eh? I-It’s fine, I can handle this—”

“You looked like you were having a hard time. Let me do it.”

Without waiting for her approval, Masachika took the box from her hands and carried it himself. It wasn’t as bad as carrying a pile of lumber, but it still needed a bit of effort to stay upright with the package in his hands.

In the end, Masha couldn’t help but smile at him, grateful for his unexpected assistance.

She might be unaware of it, but this was exactly what she needed after being unable to get the issue with her sister out of her mind.

“Thank you, Kuze-kun.”

“No problem. Just lead the way, Masha-san.”

After informing him that they’re supposed to take the box to their makeshift farm, the two walked out of the lodge and continued on their way.

Things were silent between them at first, but it’s due to Masha not knowing what to say. She wanted to talk to him about what took place yesterday, but would he even be comfortable discussing it?

Will it be too much for poor Masachika to remember the hurtful words that Alya told him?

If she was him, she would try to avoid it as much as she can, but can the same be said for the boy?

“Please forgive my sister, Kuze-kun. I know she said some very harsh words yesterday, but she didn’t mean any of them,” she simply decided to be subtle in her words and see where things go from here.

“Like I said, don’t worry about it. I get why she’s angry. Any sane person would feel stressed about being stuck on an island for this long.”

“I’m glad,” she sighed in relief upon seeing that he wasn’t affected by that incident. “I really don’t know why she suddenly lost her cool. Alya-chan is normally calm and collected. When I saw her shouting at Kuze-kun, I didn’t know what to do at first…”

“I’m still processing the fact that you yelled and got angry at your sister, and I’m sure everyone else will agree with me on that.”

A look of absolute panic washed over the girl as she buried her face into her hands.