Chapter 119: 119

“Listen to me boys and girls!”

My dad puts his hands on his hips and raised his voice.

‘The Kazamachi House is scheduled to clean up today! And you, Rouge-chan!”

“Father, you don’t have to yell like that.”

Rouge replied back with her usual blank expression.

We are currently in our beloved home for the first time in a month. On the sofa in the living and dining room.

Shouhei, Aoi and I sat on the three-seater, and Rouge on the one-seater.

Jaja was on my lap and Nana was on Aoi’s lap, restlessly looking around our house in wonder for the first time in a long time.

My dad was standing in front of the couch, arms crossed in front of a large flat screen LCD TV.

He had an irritating smile.

“Welcome to the Kazamachi house, Rouge-chan! Normally, I would have liked to throw a small welcome party, but we’ve been out of town for a month and our house is covered in dust! And since the electricity was off, the inside of the fridge looks like something you’d rather not see! So let’s invite Mikuma-chan, Saeki-chan and the others to a party this coming Saturday and make it a big one!”

“Dad, I appreciate the thought, but I’m about to become a freeloader. I can’t let you spend too much money.”

“No! We will! We’re having a party! After all, this is Rouge, and we’re the one who asked her to come! I wouldn’t feel good as a father if we didn’t give her a welcoming banquet!

This middle-aged man.

I don’t know why he’s so energetic.

”Shouhei, is it okay if I drink a bit?”

“There’s no way I’d let you drink. It’s morning, you know?”

“I’m just glad to finally be home, you know?”

The work to restore the broken power lines in this area was completed the day before yesterday.

The power company informed us yesterday that electricity was flowing to every household without any problems.

A month has already passed since the ‘Tusk Crag Dungeon Expansion Incident’.

Our area was the last place to get power restored.

It couldn’t be helped, especially since our house is the closest to Tusk Crag.

It’s also the area that had the most monsters leaking out of the dungeon and the most trees growing out of it.

They had to work carefully to ensure their safety.

They needed time to strike a balance between the two.

The work of cutting down the dead trees, which had been prioritized in densely populated residential areas, is steadily progressing, and the streets are beginning to regain some of their pre-incident appearance.

However, there are still some dungeon-like forests that remain.

Now Gasara and the other treasure hunters are hard at work measuring the dungeon area.

I’ll bring them some food later.

The town and nearby areas where the trees have been cut down. Once it was confirmed that the dungeon monsters had stopped appearing there, the evacuees returned to their homes one by one.

There are still a few families left in the shelter, but they will all be able to return to their homes by the end of this month at the latest.

We, the latecomers, arrived home as well, and realized the cost of neglecting the place for a month.

It was dusty as hell.

Even if we opened all the windows, the front door and the kitchen door, the dust still stood out.

I’m sure I’ve heard about this somewhere.

I had heard somewhere that a house would fall into disrepair as soon as its inhabitants were gone.

I hadn’t even opened or closed the front door, let alone the windows, for the past month, so the air inside was stagnant and unable to circulate.

No matter what kind of house you live in, dust is going to collect on the ceiling and it’s going to fall.

The floors would turn white in the blink of an eye if you didn’t clean them daily.

My dad was right, the contents of the stopped fridge was disastrous, and the rest of the rooms were similar to this one.

The water in the toilet tank was, of course, a month old. It smelled bad and had water stains.

The bathroom was filled with the smell coming from the sewer lines.

The garden that my dad used to tend to on his days off had been reduced to a dismal mess of weeds.

Oh, come on. In just a month, it’s gone back to the way it was when we moved in.

That’s why we decided to clean up the house today.

My dad and I came back several times during the evacuation, and lightly wiped the floors in the living room and hallway.

Otherwise, we wouldn’t have brought the twins back with us.

“Well then! I’ll take the living room and the hallway! Shouhei, the kitchen and the fridge! Aoi-chan the upstairs rooms and washing the futon and stuff. I’ll take the car out later and we’ll go to the laundromat down the road to dry in time! Rouge-chan, take care of the kids while we clean up!”

“Wow, the fridge is terrible.”

Shouhei looks at the refrigerator with a furrowed brow.

The breaker was just turned up earlier, so it probably wasn’t cold inside yet.

Food that has been aged for a month would look and smell horrible.

“Laundry, I hope to finish it before lunch.”

“Hmm. The weather’s good. I can also help at times.”

Aoi and Rouge looked up at the sky from the garden.

It’s the middle of the rainy season but the skies have been clear recently.

“Hey, what about me?”

I wasn’t part of the roles that my dad just divvied.

I mean, I know I don’t have to ask.

Just in case, you know?

“Haa? Of course it’s everything except what I just said.”

“Hou? And what is that? Do you mean the bathroom, the toilet, the sink, the upstairs balcony, the garden and the front entrance?”

“Yeah. Oh, and also shopping for lunch and dinner and drying the bed mats.”

“Damn! That’s never going to end!”

I’m the only one with an unusual amount of work!

“Oh, what, my oldest son is a late rebel? You’re young and healthy, you should work ten times harder than others.”

“There are limits to what you can do!”

“Kunpei-san. I’m going to help too.”

“Hmm. When Jaja and Nana are sleeping, I’ll help too.”

Aoi smiled and Rouge was concerned about me with the same blank expression on her face.

They’re good girls.

”Dah.”

“Ah!”

Jaja and Nana, sitting on my and Aoi’s lap, found the toy box in the corner of the living and dining room.

Those are the twins’ treasures.

The animal series especially are their favorites.

They must be excited to see the animals for the first time in a long time.

“We’ll play with the toys later, okay? In the meantime, let’s clean up from where Jaja and Nana plays first.”

Aoi leaned on my shoulder as she stroked Nana’s head.

Yeah. Close.

And hot.

“In the meantime, I’ll take them for a walk in the garden. No need to worry about them getting bitten by bugs. No insect can escape my thin fire barrier.”

“…Be careful of the fire, okay?”

“Hm. There’s nothing wrong with a little burning. The flames are all under my control.”

Rouge puffed up her chest with pride.

If one didn’t know the circumstances and your capabilities, that’s the same statement as an arsonist’s.

“Then why don’t we start with Kunpei’s room on the second floor? Come on, people, let’s go to work!”

At the command of my dad, who was still strangely excited, the cleaning process began.