Yuto and Ayumi's Fateful Adventure

“Okay, I’ve got it! You can have the last one,” Yuto said as he pulled a bright orange apple out of a small basket.

“That’s nice but there are only two apples left in the basket and you took the last one,” Ayumi replied while she reached into the basket to pull out an apple identical to Yuto’s. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter since they aren’t very good anyway.”

She placed the apple into a wooden box full of apples that were already starting to rot. She then stood up, her back aching after spending all day carrying baskets of apples from the orchard to the storage barn.

Yuto was still sitting on his knees with his hands resting on his round belly. He had eaten three apples and was now staring at their mother who was emptying a bucket full of water onto some bushes growing by the small stream that ran through their property.

It was getting late in the afternoon and Ayumi was eager to get started on dinner. She turned towards Yuto and sighed before walking over to where their mother was standing.

“Mother, I need to start dinner, can you please tell Yuto to help me?” Ayumi asked as she stretched her arms above her head.

Their mother ignored Ayumi and continued watering the bushes. Ayumi frowned, “Mother, did you hear what I just said?” But again her mother did not acknowledge her so Ayumi turned around and walked up to her brother. She stomped her foot and glared at him, “Yuto! We need to start dinner! Can you please stop eating those apples? They are for sale!”

Yuto slowly turned around and met his sister's angry gaze with a bewildered expression on his face before bursting into laughter. His laughter made Ayumi even more furious so she took two steps forward and pushed him as hard as she could causing him to fall backwards into the stream. “Stop laughing at me! We need all of those apples if we want to make any money this year! Now get up before Mother sees you!” Ayumi wailed nervously while she stared at their mother who was still not paying any attention to them.

As soon as Yuto stood up he laughed even harder which only made Ayumi furious again so she pushed him back into the water while shouting: “Stop laughing you idiot! Now help me carry these baskets inside before Mother finds out!" She then quickly grabbed four baskets from beside him before running away from him toward the storage barn that stood close by near the house where their mother was standing watching them with an angry look on her face.

When they arrived at the barn Ayumi threw all of the baskets onto a table that stood in the middle of it before furiously wiping away sweat drops from her forehead with a dirty piece of cloth. She turned around and glared at Yuto who had just entered with his head hanging low and an innocent look on his face which made her even angrier so she angrily slapped him across his cheek making him cry out in pain while rubbing his red cheek with one hand while holding onto his stomach with another. As soon as he stopped crying he looked up at his sister with tears in his eyes that immediately made her feel guilty so she bent down next to him and whispered: “I am sorry Yuto but I really need your help if we want to finish cleaning these baskets tonight."