A Family Breakfast That Unlocked a Side Quest (According To My Little Sister)

The smell of miso soup hit me before I even knocked.

You could blindfold me, spin me around, drop me infront of any apartment in this building, and I’d still be able to find my mom’s cooking by nose alone.

My stomach growled.

I raised my hand to ring the bell, but the door was faster.

It FLEW open.

“ONII-CHAAAN!”

Something small and fast crashed into my chest.

“I literally live next door now. You don’t have to tackle me every time you see me.”

My little sister looked at me with sparkling eyes, absolutely zero remorse on her face.

“I haven’t seen you since… yesterday. Do you know how many DingDong’s that are?”

Her black hair was tied into a messy ponytail, and she was still in the same oversized t-shirt and shorts she’d slept in.

“Is that… a LunaZero shirt?”

She puffed out her chest proudly. “Limited edition design. I camped the store page for 4 hours, okay? Respect the grind.”

Of course.

I sighed. “It’s eight in the morning. Why are you already at full power?”

“Because my famous big brother is back home, duh.” She grabbed my sleeve and pulled.

“Come on, Mom said if you’re late she’s going to eat your tamagoyaki.”

“Monster.” I muttered. I wasn’t sure if I meant my sister or mother.

She dragged me inside like I weighed nothing. The familiar smell of rice, grilled fish and miso wrapped around me and for a moment it was like I was 16 again and hadn’t yet sold my soul to the algorithm.

“Ren!” my mom’s voice called from the kitchen. “You’re here. Wash your hands and sit down, breakfast is almost ready.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I called back automatically.

After I sat down, my sister dropped onto the cushion across from me, half laying, half sitting.

“Alright… spill it! How’s the new apartment? Is it maybe… haunted by old man Tsukishima?”

“It’s not.”

“Then… have you seen your neighbors at all? You told us there’s a gamer girl living there, right? The one who keeps waking you up at night.”

I pressed my lips together. A very unhelpful instinct.

“Oh-ho? That’s a face.”

“What face?” I asked way too fast.

“That one.” she said, pointing at me. “That’s your ‘I will say nothing and you can’t make me’ face.”

Before I could answer, Mom came out of the kitchen with a tray.

Grilled salmon. Tamagoyaki. Natto. Salad. Rice. Miso soup. Everything.

“Whoa!” I said. “What’s the occasion? Did I level up in son points or something?”

“You looked unhealthy when you were in Tokyo.” Mom said, not amused. “You were definitely living off of delivery food, right? Sit. Eat.”

I was already sitting, but when Mom’s in mom-mode, she doesn’t care about logic.

“Thank you for the food.” we all said at the same time.

“You know, I watched your comeback stream.” my mom said suddenly.

“You… did?”

“Of course. I don’t understand half of what you shout, but the chat kept sending those… stickers? And the little fox ones were cute.”

“Moooom, those are emotes. How many times do I have to teach you… they never learn.” my sister said with a sigh.

I cleared my throat. “Anyway… speaking of my job… I actually have good news.”

“Did you land a big sponsorship?” my mom asked.

“Well, actually good news for Yui.”

“Are you collabing with LunaZero?” my sister blurted.

I blinked at my sister. “Okay, you need to chill out with the psychic thing. It’s weird.”

Her jaw dropped. “NO WAY.”

“You know that streamer tournament thing that’s been teased?” I said, trying to sound casual.

“Obviously.” she said. “Chat’s been theorycrafting the line-up for weeks. They’re saying if you join, it’ll be the biggest event of the summer.”

“Mm.” I picked up my chopsticks. “Well, I got an invite.”

She squealed. Actually squealed. Mom flinched.

“Inside voice!” Mom scolded.

“I can’t.” she hissed back. “Do you understand, Mom? Your son is going to be on stream with Luna. Zero. THE LunaZero. Queen of late-night ranked. Empress of carrying trolls. The voice of my generation.”

“That sounds exaggerated.” I muttered.

“So she really is in the same event? Mom asked, eyes widening slightly. Even she knows her name. That said a lot.

“She’s listed as the special guest. But I don’t know if we’ll be on the same team or anything.”

“You have to get her autograph.” my sister said immediately.

“It’s an online tournament.”

“Screenshot then. Frame it. Let her sign my soul. I dont care. Just interact. Please.”

“Do you hear fans say stuff like that at events too?” Mom asked, half amused, half worried.

“Worse.”

My mom sighed, then her gaze softened a little. “I’m happy for you, Ren. After everything with… the address leak… it’s good to see things going back to normal.”

Something in my chest loosened.

“Yeah.” I said quietly. “It feels nice having something to look forward to. Even if it means Chat will spam ‘SIMP’ the whole game. Well, if I get teamed up with LunaZero that is.”

“SIMP? Is that a foreign word for idiot?” Mom asked.

“...Close enough.”

My sister grinned and shoveled rice into her mouth like she’d won the lottery. For a few minutes, the only sounds were chopsticks and slurping.

It felt normal. Like back in the day.

Then Mom asked “So. Aside from your noisy neighbors… how is it, living back here? Any trouble so far?”

I hesitated.

Images flashed through my mind.

Yuna on the floor, pale as the hospital sheets.

Her shaking voice.

The thump-thump-thump of the baby’s heartbeat on the monitor.

“...Yeah.” I said slowly. “Actually. About that.”

My sister froze, mid-bite. “About what?”

I sighed and set my chopsticks down. “My neighbor.”

“I KNEW IT! Something was off with that face of yours.” my sister screamed, pointing her chopsticks in my face.

I sighed. “Turns out, she’s not just a night owl. She’s also… pregnant.”

“Pregnant?”

“Yes, like, very pregnant. The belly is… there.”

“Pregnant and gaming through the night? Is she living alone?” Mom asked.

“I think so. I haven’t seen anyone else go in or out. And, uh…” I scratched my cheek.

“... she collapsed in her apartment yesterday.”

Both of them stared at me.

“Collapsed? What do you mean collapsed?”

I told them.

Not in every painful detail, but enough. The bump against the wall. Her voice through the door. The way her phone was just out of reach. The hospital. The doctor lecturing me like a misbehaving husband. The words “dehydrated” and especially “hypoglycemic” that I still wasn’t sure I could spell.

By the time I finished, my sister's eyes were wide and shining.

“That’s… that’s literally like a Drama-Plot.” she whispered to herself. “The shut-in streamer and the mysterious pregnant girl he carries through the night…”

“Please don’t turn my life into a romantic plot.”

“Too late.”

Mom on the other hand was not thinking about drama.

“She collapsed because she wasn’t eating and drinking properly?” she asked.

“Yeah. The doctor said she’d also been overworking herself, not resting enough. It’s a classic gamer habit. Just… you know, extra risky because…” I gestured vaguely at my stomach.

“And there was no one with her? Just you?”

“Just me. If I hadn’t woken up from the noise, she…”

Silence settled for a moment. Then Mom put her bowl down with just a little too much force.

“That poor girl. Pregnant. Alone. Collapsing in her apartment. Does she really have no one looking out for her?”

“She… uh… said the baby’s father is not in the picture.” I said. I didn’t want to dump her entire tragedy on the breakfast table. But hiding it felt worse.

My sister leaned forward. “Is she cute?”

“Your priorities are broken.”

“It’s relevant!” she insisted. “If she’s cute, the drama level goes up.”

“Drama level is irrelevant.” Mom cut in. “Health level is what matters.” Then she turned to me. “Have you checked on her since?”

“N-Not really… I just told her to actually sleep at night for once… when we came back from the hospital.”

“And?”

“She promised to try. But she’ll probably listen to half the doctor said, and ignore the rest. Just like someone else I know.”

I glanced at my sister. She stuck out her tongue.

Mom exhaled slowly. Her expression softening but not relaxing.

“She’s around 25 weeks, from what you said the doctor mentioned.” Mom murmured. “At that stage… she really shouldn’t be starving herself. Or gaming through the night.”

“That’s what I told her.Minus the calm delivery. And the medical confidence.”

Mom fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded to herself in that way she does when she’s already made a decision.

“Okay. Then we’ll help.”

I blinked. “We?”

“Yes, ‘we’. She clearly can’t take care of herself properly. So we’ll make sure she at least eats something decent.

My sister's eyes lit up. “You mean…?”

“I’ll cook.” Mom declared. “Proper meals. Easy to reheat. And you…!” she pointed her chopsticks at me like a weapon… “will bring them over.”

“Wait. Hold on.”

“Don’t even try.” Mom said. “You said she barely eats and ends up in the hospital. Do you expect me to sit here and do nothing while this girl your age, pregnant, lives ten steps away.”

“Technically she’s younger than me.”

“That makes it worse!” Mom snapped.

My sister slammed her hands on the table, interrupting us. “YES. I approve of this side quest! Feed the pregnant neighbor!!!”

“Stop turning my life into a game.”

She ignored me completely. “Mom, should we make like… bentos for her?”

Mom folded her arms. “Ren, you said she was very embarrassed about causing trouble, right?”

“Yeah. She apologized a lot.”

“Then we’ll do this gently. You don’t have to say ‘My mom thinks you’re incapable of feeding yourself, please accept her pity rice’. Just tell her we made too much. That we’d be happy if she helped us so it doesn’t go to waste.”

My sister nodded. “Classic anime mom move… Foolproof.”

“Why does everything have to be classified by anime tropes with you? I asked.

“Because you keep living them!” she shot back. “Do you realize how many girls would kill to live next to her favorite streamer? And you just happen to have this pregnant mystery gamer girl next door who also happens to be single.”

“I don’t think she even knows who I am… besides, she’s just… someone who needed help. And I was there.”

She grinned. “Wow. Congratulations bro. You just described the origin story of, like, 90 percent of romance stories.”

We decided to ignore her. But Mom’s gaze softened at my words. “Exactly… which is why you’ll keep being there. And if she warms up a little, we invite her to eat with us.”

“YESSSSSS!” my sister couldn't be stopped at this point.

I let my head fall back a little and stared at the ceiling.

Inviting your pregnant neighbor over for food because your mom decided so. Was that weird? Probably.

My sister leaned over the table, grinning. “So, Onii-chan…” she sang. “When are you inviting her?”

“I didn’t agree yet.”

Mom raised an eyebrow. “Ren.”

That was it. Just my name. But in that one syllable I heard:

I’m worried.

I trust you.

Don’t run away from this like you used to.

I sighed.

“Fine… I’ll ask her. No promises though. She’s pretty shy. But before that, we’ll start with the leftover food.”

“Leftover food in cute bento boxes!” my sister added.

“Does she have any allergies?” Mom asked, already into planning mode.

“How would I know? We don’t know each other.”

My sister laughed. “I can’t wait to meet her. The mysterious pregnant neighbor your chat doesn’t know about… YET. And then you go and collab with LunaZero on top of that. This summer is wild.”

I stared at my last spoon of miso soup.

Pregnant neighbor. An unexpected hospital trip. Massive collab. And me, still pretending I wasn’t burned out.

Yeah. Wild was one word for it.

“I just wanted to play games and stay inside this summer..” I muttered.

“What was that?” my sister asked?

“Nothing. Eat before Mom steals your salmon.”

She yelped and grabbed her plate like a dragon guarding treasure. Mom laughed.

I let myself sink into the noise of chopsticks and the safe, ordinary rhythm of family.

Later I’d go do the most terrifying thing a socially awkward streamer could do:

Knock on my neighbor’s door and ask if she wanted to eat home-cooked food from my mom.

Honestly?

Streaming to 80 thousand viewers felt easier.