It has been two month since the last election in the city of Chiba. Actually, calling it an election would be a disgrace to what an election is supposed to be. Neither of the two candidates that were elected actually ran in the first place. If fact, the only reason that Asuha and I became the head and subhead for the city was because of Renge's attempted coup d'etat and the battle that took place at the auditorium afterwards.

This had created quite the uproar among some of the more conservative members of the military due to the fact that all the previous heads and subheads were the members of the military who held the most points. As an army reject who's barely got any points to boot, I fulfilled none of the requirements. But the legitimacy I lacked was certainly made up for by my sister. Asuha has held one of the top scores in the military since the beginning of her middle school days. The only thing that prevented Asuha from becoming head any earlier was her own lack of interest.

As a result, Asuha was able to promptly take care of any cases of opposition towards me being subhead, albeit with three cases of broken ribs. Even after that I wouldn't go as far to say that the punks were okay with me being in charge, but considering Asuha's presence, at least they learned to keep it to themselves.

Now after most of the dust had calmed down over the election, I was left with the horrendously tedious job of tidying up. First off was to repair the damage that occured when Asuha destroyed the city prison along with parts of the auditorium. And as you know, repairs aren't free.

The work dumped onto me continuously by Tsurube didn't help either. Since being subhead doesn't mean you get to just be the subhead of Chiba, it meant having to do your subhead work alongside your regular job. Usually for the punks it didn't really matter, but as for me, I was still stuck as a completely normal employee at the manufacturing branch. To top everything off, being the subhead didn't offer you any additional points either, the system just assumed that if you were the subhead of Chiba, you just simply had enough.

After Tsurube became the logistics manager for city staff and as well as keeping her title as head of the manufacturing branch she shamelessly pushed all of her excess work onto me. Including the return transfer of Renge back into the manufacturing branch.

Yay, what fun.

But at least it seemed for the meantime the chaotic transition period was over,. As all of Chiba calmed down and prepared for the holiday period, a light layer of snow carpeted the city. Everyone in the city seemed to be preparing for Christmas. After all, even I was going to get a week long break. Though not much of it was actually used for breaking.

I packed up my things in the office and prepared to head back home. On the way out, I quickly dropped by Tsurube's office to tell her that I was leaving. Upon opening the door, I found her forehead buried in a pile of paper.

Having not wanted to ask anything more, I dismissively called out to her. "Yo, Tsurube I'm heading back."

Tsurube's head quickly shot up like a startled fowl; she seemed to be half angry and half embarrassed at her current predicament. But upon having saw my face, her expression laxened.

"Oh, it's just you Kasumi." She pouted.

"Yup, yup, it's just me, Kasumi, signing out..."

Just as I was headed out the front doors, I heard Tsurube's voice calling out to me from down the hallway. "Hey I'm planning a Christmas party at the hot springs. Wanna come?"

"I'll think about it…"

"All right." She approached me and added, "make sure to invite Asuha as well."

I nodded and waved Tsurube goodbye. The weather today was chilly, but not cold. It made your body want to shiver as you step outside, but not so cold that you feel like you would be frozen solid. I began my walk back home to my apartment, which was pretty far away considering it was assigned to me while I was still in the military branch.

Recently, Asuha had been coming over practically everyday to consult me with her city head work. While I really didn't mind it, I really wished she consulted me more regarding her work instead of just asking me to do it for her while she played on her phone. I really don't like work.

As I treated back home, I tried to focus on the sound of the snow crunching under my feet while my body grew heavier with each step. The exhaustion was really getting to me. While work was supposed to end at six, I usually went home around eight.

The environment in the manufacturing branch hasn't really changed since I first arrived. Everyone constantly worked overtime to satisfy the demands of Tsurube's tyranny. Though with the absence of Renge, the office seemed to be just a bit duller. The only meaningful change for me, though, was the fact that Urushibata seemed to be at a loss as to how he should talk me in the office. Urushibata was my senior, and with all his macho masculinity he really wasn't nicest person around. And it seemed my disdain towards him was reciprocated as I was certain he took every opportunity to make my work as difficult as possible. He couldn't seem to continue with his unpleasantness since I was now the subhead of Chiba. It really did make my time at work a lot more pleasant though, because he stopped using his seniority to boss me around, even if my workload didn't go down a single bit.

As I walked past the city centre, I was greeted with students strolling around and enjoying their evening. A sweet and savoury aroma greeted me as the scent of noodle broth mixed with that of freshly baked bread. Chiba was the third and weakest of the three defence cities that protected the nation from the unknown. However, recent advancement in both military and non military branches thanks to the likes of Tsurube and Natsume had pretty much brought Chiba on par with Tokyo and Kanagawa.

I quickly stepped into a bakery and bought some sandwiches to bring to work tomorrow, along with a bag of sunflower seeds for me to enjoy with Asuha later in the evening. Since it was close to Christmas, a lot of people also got off work early, making the bakery more stuffy than usual. I caught several glazes looking my way, yet whenever I look back, they seem to disperse and turn into quiet whispers. I could feel the goosebumps rising from my skin from the attention I was receiving. I dashed out of the store immediately after checkout, after taking a few deep breaths, I went to the supermarket to pick up some groceries for dinner.

The supermarket was filled with a variety of foods that you would usually find in a supermarket, but also some more outlandish varieties thanks to the work of the manufacturing branch. I walked past a crowd of people gathered around a shelf of cucumbers which bore both the taste and appearance of candy cane, a product which some of the older folks came up with.

I mostly stuck to the standardized garden variety of foods such as carrots and potatoes. While they might not be as interesting or as delicious as the foods that Tsurube had created, their taste reminded me of the days back with my parents, before the world was invaded by the [unknown]. The only non-mundane thing I bought was a cute looking bottle of plum juice which Asuha specifically requested yesterday.

It was almost seven thirty when I got home. I opened the door to find Asuha sleeping on the couch. She did not seem to notice me opening the door, as upon hearing my footsteps her body bolted upright within the blink of an eye.

"Geez!" She yelled. "You could've at least knocked."

"Ahh… well…You see..." I tried to comment on how this was in fact my apartment and that her dorm was about one kilometre east of here.

"Whatever, welcome back." She tilted her head to the side, trying to peek at what I brought back in my bag. "Did you buy it…"

"Here…" I handed her the plum drink that I bought earlier, which she took happily from my hand. She then proceeded back to her couch and shuffled around lazily as she found a position that she was satisfied with.

"Onii, you're home early today."

"Well, it's Christmas."

"Yeah…"

"Is there anything you want to eat?" I asked as I unloaded all of the groceries into the fridge.

"No…"

Stew it was then. She had commented before on how she seemed to enjoy my and only my stew. As I started cutting the potatoes I heard Asuha say something about the bath before I heard pleasant humming coming from the bathroom. I shook my head and continued the preparation of the stew.

It occurred to me that through everything that happened, I had finally achieved my goal of being by her side. All that was left was to protect the precious position that we were in. It was up to me to insure that I would continue to be by her side, even if it meant fighting the Unknowns, the other cities, or even the administration. I'd make sure to never lose her voice again.

I let out a lazy yawn as I leaned against the kitchen counter, relishing Asuha's singing. Just as the stew was coming to boil, Asuha stepped out of the shower. She was wearing some pink underwear and had a towel wrapped around her upper body. She walked next to me and pressed her body against mine, stretching her neck to peek at the stew brewing in the pot.

"Onii, you're so slow." She complained. But upon realizing my uncomfortable situation she took a few steps back and chuckled. "That's totally gross you know."

Maybe if you actually put on some clothes.

She once again climbed back onto her couch and made herself comfortable. "How was your patrol today?" I asked. Having realized that it would be a while before the stew would be ready, I grabbed a seat with her on the other end of the couch.

"Eh?" She seemed to have been a bit startled by the sinking of the sofa created by the additional weight.

"Well, normal I guess…" She replied without so much as lifting her head. I leaned my head back onto the sofa, stretching out my arms and stared at the ceiling. It was nice like this, the times when we were just besides each other, embracing each other's presence.

Without me noticing, Asuha crawled along the couch and snuggled her head against my lap. As I was about to raise my head, I felt her soft fingers grab on to my face, pulling it towards hers. My face instantly lit up with red, as did hers. Suddenly becoming conscious of her actions, she quickly let go. The next few seconds, in which we stared awkwardly at each other, seemed to pass in slow motion. Just as I was starting to notice how cute Asuha suddenly became, my thoughts were interrupted.

"Hey... Onii," she said tentatively, breaking the tension in the air. "Go over this year's military budget tonight, okay?"

"Huh? What do you mean go over this year's military budget? That's definitely your job."

"Well you're here aren't you?"

"So what if I am?"

"So you'll do it then."

I sighed, it was pointless trying to make her do any work.

"Dear Asuha, can you do the dishes tonight while your brother is preoccupied with your work?" I asked sarcastically in my sweetest voice. Her body tensed up and her face became flustered upon hearing me talk to her like that.

"Um...no. Definitely, definitely not." She responded while frivolously shaking her head. "You're being super super gross you know?"

"Ah…" I tried to come up with a reply but instead the room was suddenly filled with a loud sizzling sound as some of the stew boiled over. I quickly shoved Asuha aside and rushed to turn off the stove.

"Idiot..." I heard someone mutter followed by soft giggles much to my hurt feelings.

"Dinner's ready." I called out to her as I made the final preparations for the meal, which mostly consisted of microwaving some leftovers from yesterday and cutting up some fruits I took back with me from the manufacturing department.

Asuha slowly arose from her nest and stretched her arms out in the air. While letting out a long yawn, her barely open eyes and her messy, curly hair that went down to her thighs made her look like a bear getting out of hibernation.

While stretching her arm out, she let the towel covering her upper body fall haphazardly to the ground while slipping into a shirt that she had prepared earlier. We sat down around the tiny dinner table and Asuha quickly dug into the food without any intention of showing any respect.

While I really didn't mind, it would've been nice if she showed appreciation for her brother more often. Something along the lines of asking me how my day went, or whether there was anything I wanted to do, or anything which I needed help with. But again, asking me any of those things would probably result in a half-assed response, so I don't really blame her.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully as I sat myself down in front of the computer while Asuha fidgeted with her phone and cracked sunflower seeds on my bed. By the time I was done, it was already one in the morning, and there weren't any sunflower seeds left. With Asuha already steadily asleep on my bed, I had no choice but to hit the sofa.

I woke up to the blaring sound of the alarm coming from under the sofa cushions; putting it in such a place made turning it off without actually getting up practically impossible. As usual, by the time I woke up, Asuha had already left for her morning patrols. I sluggishly brushed my teeth and washed my face in preparation for another day of work. Getting out of bed might just be the hardest thing to do each day seeing as how I really didn't care about this world. But having Asuha stay the night with me probably made the process that much easier.

To my delight, as I stepped into the kitchen to make breakfast, I was greeted with the sight of an omelette and two pieces of toast already set out for me on the table.

Thanks Asuha.