Chapter 162 - The Hiiragi Family is Amazing (1/2)

When I got off the luxury car that came to pick me up, a luxurious mansion was in front of me.

“T-that’s surprising…”

Sana who got off before me shook with fear.

“…So, Sensei is actually a rich lady.”

Even Kanata, who normally has weak reactions, opened her mouth in surprise as she looked up at the mansion.

“Nii-san, are you perhaps the calculating type and the only reason you got with Sensei…”

“Of course not.”

“…Marrying into wealth, I’m jealous.”

Kanata-san? Your inner voice is coming out, you know? Since they now know about Hiiragi-chan, there’s no need for me to hide anything, and it’s become much easier for me.

“Hmm… so this is it. M-my house is a-at the very least the house of a city council member, and it’s s-somewhat large, Senpai.”

Rei-chan had her knees quake as she tried to compete. Her body is pretty honest. After we were finished being greeted by the maids and butlers, Natsumi-chan came out from the main entrance.

“Hello, welcome everyone!”

After her, Hiiragi-chan also showed up.

“Hi everyone, thanks for coming out so far.”

“Excuse us.”

I gave a small bow. Today would be my third time already, so I’m not really that nervous. Sana and Rei-chan however, were looking up at the mansion behind Hiiragi-chan with a blue face.

““…It’s too high spec.””

Natsumi-chan called us to come in and so the home economics club and Rei-chan entered the mansion. A few days ago I was told by Hiiragi-chan that Natsumi-chan proposed that we go to the Hiiragi mansion to have our end of the year party. Hiiragi-chan knew that we would have an end of the year party, but we were still discussing where we would have it. There, Natsumi-chan asked if we wanted to come to her place, and so we ended up here. I heard that she made sure to check with Airi-san and various other people.

Hiiragi-chan was also heading home for a visit so it was perfect timing. We called it an end of the year party, but today was New Year’s Eve, so it was more like a New Year’s banquet at this point.

“S-Sana is spending the New Year’s in a mansion this year…!”

My little sister was super obviously nervous. We passed by the reception room where I once had a heated discussion with Airi-san. There, everything was already prepared for the gathering, with a kotatsu and two cassette stoves on top of it. H-hot pot. She’s planning on doing hot pot…! Hiiragi-chan’s not here? I guess that means she’s standing by for the hot pot.

“The house itself is made in a western style, and yet over here it’s eastern.”

Rei-chan expressed the words I was thinking within myself. Earlier, I stepped out of the circle for a bit and gave my greetings to Airi-san and Takakage-san. In contrast to the welcoming Airi-san, Takakage-san had an annoyed expression before telling me to come back after I had joined the family. After being glared at by Airi-san, he then instantly changed to a more welcoming mode. Other than Natsumi-chan, everyone was looking around all over the place with unease. I was also the same at the start. Anyone would feel that way after being brought to a rich person’s house.

“Thank you for waiting~”

Hiiragi-chan came in pushing a cart while wearing an apron. On top of it was a steaming hot pot. A crab was placed in it.

Sana pulled on my sleeve.

“N-Nii-san, do rich people have crab in their hot pot on New Year’s Eve?”

“How would I know?”

Natsumi-chan let out a laugh.

“It’s not just this, you know?”

On the bottom level of the cart, there was a black pan, complete with a set of ingredients that included eggs, beef, and sashimi.

“““I-is that—s-sukiyaki!?”””

The commoners were blown away by the impact of wealthiness.

“A-at my place, we sometimes have m-mizutaki… during the winter, Senpai.”

Rei-chan, you can’t compete with mizutaki. It can’t beat the very best of hot pot. I somehow started to comfort Rei-chan as she forcefully tried to compete.

“I was lost on whether we should go with a puffer fish instead, but Natsumi said that this would be better.”

“I mean, puffer fish isn’t that good right? At least not for how expensive it is.”

Really? Is that really the case? I haven’t tried it before.

“I wonder if Nii-san will also talk on a level completely above us like that someday…”

Sana was watching with faraway eyes. Hiiragi-chan started making the sukiyaki from the stock. Meanwhile, the rest of us enjoyed the crab hot pot that was already done. The crab hot pot was made by the Hiiragi family chefs under the guidance of Hiiragi-chan it seems. Unlike the crab hot pot that I know of, it has quite a high-class flavor.

“…I thought that it would just be at the level of a small gathering, but this is a big shock.”

Kanata spoke with a serious face while blowing on some cabbage.

“A-at our place, at our place…”

“It’s fine now, Rei-chan. You don’t need to fight anymore…”

“Gosh, you guys are all exaggerating. Crab hot pot and sukiyaki are normal at home, right?”

“Even if you do, you wouldn’t have both at once, at least not in a commoner family.”

Hiiragi-chan tilted her head in confusion. I turned my gaze towards Natsumi-chan, who also did the same in tilting her head.