Volume 1 - CH 1.2

The following morning, I woke up earlier than usual to prepare breakfast.

Ever since I started living alone, I’ve been going to school without eating breakfast because it’s too much trouble to cook, but now that I’m living with Sotome-san, I can’t just slack off.

I don’t care if it were just me, but it wouldn’t be good if Sotome-san skipped breakfast.

“When was the last time they had breakfast?”

I thought to myself as I tasted the miso soup.

I didn’t know if Sotome-san was a bread or a rice person, so I went with rice for now.

As a side dish, I made miso soup with fried eggs, and along with it, some sauteed leftover vegetables and some pickles. It was all quite simple, but I convinced myself that this was what breakfast should be like.

I brought the food to the table and waited for Sotome-san, but she didn’t come for a long time.

“I wonder if Sotome-san is up yet.”

I looked at the clock in the living room and saw that it was a little after seven o’clock.

There’s still plenty of time to spare, but when will she wake up?

“No… way.”

Then, an unpleasant thought occurred to me.

What if she had caught a cold?

I didn’t know how long she had been at the park, but from how wet she was, it must have been quite a while. Even though she warmed up in the bath, it wouldn’t be surprising if she had a fever.

Worried, I walked over to the room where Sotome-san was sleeping and listened carefully.

There was no noise from inside.

“Sotome-san…?”

I knocked lightly and called out to her, but there was no answer.

Feeling bad about disturbing her while she was sleeping, I slowly opened the door and went inside.

She was still sleeping soundly in bed.

I looked into her face to check if she was feeling sick, but she seemed to be sleeping peacefully. She didn’t look particularly pale, wasn’t sweating, nor did it look like she was in pain.

“Thank God…”

A sigh of relief escaped me.

But when I looked at her again, I realized that she really had a beautiful face.

The facial features on her petite face were well-balanced, with long eyelashes emphasized by her closed eyes and lips that were slightly tinted red. Her white skin was clear without a single blemish, though her beauty contrasted with her hair, which was dyed golden.

It might be the first time I’ve seen a girl’s face this close up.

Looking at a cute face like this, she doesn’t look much like a gal.

“Nmm…?”

“…!?”

As I was admiring her cuteness, Sotome-san woke up suddenly.

Yabai— 

Realizing that it wouldn’t be good if she thought I was peeping while she slept, I quickly tried to hide, but there was no way I could manage to do it in time.

“… Where?”

She woke up and looked around sleepily.

She tilted her head in a daze, and after a while, she noticed me.

“Akamori-kun… I see. I stayed at your house, right?”

“Y-yeah. Do you remember?”

“Yes. Good morning…”

“G-good morning.”

Although she just woke up, she looked like she was about to fall asleep again.

Her head was wobbling, and her eyes were closed, but when she was about to return to her dream world,

“Breakfast is ready. I’ll be waiting for you in the living room. You should go wash your face.”

“Yeah. I will…”

Sotome-san crawled out of bed and was about to leave the room.

“Ouch!”

She bumped her forehead against the door and raised a voice.

“Are you okay…?”

“Nmm. I’m fine.”

After answering, she rubbed her forehead and disappeared into the bathroom.

I see. Apparently, Sotome-san is weak in the morning. 

A little while later, she came to the living room, still looking sleepy.

Though… It’s a feast for the eyes to see a girl wearing men’s clothes, right?

“Good morning. Shall we eat?”

“Yes. Thanks.”

We sat facing each other like we did last night and put our hands together.

“Itadakimasu.” x2

Sotome-san picked up her chopsticks and took a mouthful of miso soup.

“I didn’t know whether you prefer bread or rice in the morning, so I just went with rice for now.”

“I like rice better.”

“… I see. That’s good.”

After a few minutes of conversation, the dining table was shrouded in silence.

“”…””

What should I do…? This was awkward!

It was regardless of whether the opposite party was a gal or not!

Yesterday, I was able to have a normal conversation with her because of the momentum of bringing her home, but now that we were face to face again, I felt awkward. Sotome-san seemed to feel the same way, and we proceeded with our meal without any conversation.

It couldn’t be helped.

Even though we knew each other, yesterday was the first time we had talked.

I’ve been asking myself since last night, “was this really the right thing to do?”

By the way, the room I asked Sotome-san to use was my sister’s room, and naturally, she slept in her bed.

In my fantasies, I naturally imagined a scene where I get to sleep in bed with a girl, but I would like to tell all the boys in junior high and high school who have similar fantasies,

Reality is not that sweet!

There’s no way I would have the courage to ask a girl to bed in the first place.

If I had the guts, I wouldn’t be fantasizing about it, and I would have had a girlfriend by now. It’s so sad.

My story aside, when my family was moving out, we actually agreed that someone would come to check on me periodically, so they left a bed and the bare necessities for a person.

I didn’t think it would come in handy for this, though.

“Thank you for the food, Akamori-kun. You’re not eating?”

“Oh, no. I’ll have some.”

I was so absorbed in my stupid fantasy that I forgot to eat.

I hurriedly brought breakfast to my mouth, but I felt so guilty that I couldn’t taste it.

“After breakfast, let’s get ready for school. I can’t go to school with you, so I’ll leave a little earlier, and you can take your time getting to school later.”

“But my uniform… is still wet from the rain.”

“I washed it last night and put it in the dryer.”

I pointed to a corner of the living room as I said this.

There was Sotome-san’s uniform, already washed and dried.

“Thank you… Akamori-kun, you can do anything.”

“It was just something I had to do. I used to not do any chores before junior high school, so it was tough when I first started living alone. But when pushed, one can handle things surprisingly well. So, Sotome-san, don’t worry about the future. What will happen will happen.”

“Yeah. I hope you’re right.”

I smiled and tried to say something to clear the heavy air.

Sotome-san gave me a small but awkward smile back.

“And here, let me give you this.”

I put the key with the keyring on the table.

“This …?”

“It’s a spare key of this house.”

“Are you sure?”

“We’re going to be living together for a while, so why not? I can’t always be home to see you off or pick you up. Now, when you go to school today, I’ll need you to lock the door.”

“Yes… I understand.”

Handing over the keys in this way made me feel that we were starting a new life together.

“Also, I have a suggestion, why don’t we stop calling each other by our last names?”

“What?”

“We’re going to be living together from now on, so it’s not like we have to be strangers, right? It might be hard to get used to at first, but I thought it would be better to call each other by our first names. So you can call me Akira.”

“Yeah, that’s better. You can call me Aoi, too.”

I think it’s important to start formally in order to close the distance.

And so, after finishing our meal, we began to prepare to go to school.