Volume 1 - CH 21

After wrapping up the takoyaki party, we spent some time chatting in Kasahara’s room. Well, it was mostly Hayashi and Kasahara who were chatting, while I was either listening or being teased. In any case, I wasn’t given a decent role.

Kasahara seemed particularly happy to reunite with Hayashi, her smile even more radiant than I remember from our high school days.

The conversation went on for quite a while.

I don’t often have the opportunity to visit a girl’s room, so I was pretty nervous at first. However, neither Hayashi nor Kasahara seemed to pay much attention to me, and before I knew it, I was being overwhelmed by a strong urge to sleep.

“Yamamoto.”

“Hmm?”

Next thing I knew, I was dozing off in Kasahara’s room.

When I opened my eyes, Hayashi was staring at me with a look of disbelief, and Kasahara was laughing.

“We should get going.”

“Huh? …Oh, right.”

I was embarrassed to be caught sleeping by Kasahara. My face felt hot. For some reason, I wanted to leave even more than when I first came to this room. I tried to shake off the sluggishness from having just woken up.

“Wait a second.”

Kasahara noticed something and stopped me.

She then grabbed a few tissues and pressed them against my cheek.

“…You’re drooling.”

“…I apologize.”

As Kasahara wiped my drool, my face was probably visibly red. I wanted to hide my face as soon as possible to prevent it from being exposed to the public. But I couldn’t do that until she was done wiping. Even though it should’ve been a brief moment, it felt excruciatingly long.

“There you go. You’re good now.”

“…Thank you.”

I got up. My body, which had been drowsy, was now fully awake.

For some reason, I could feel the piercing gaze of the girl standing next to me.

“Sorry for making you wait.”

This time, it was definitely my fault.

I apologized to Hayashi.

“…I wasn’t waiting. It’s fine.”

“…Oh, okay.”

There seemed to be an awkward silence between Hayashi and me.

“Let’s go.”

“Alright.”

Suddenly, Hayashi grabbed my wrist and started walking quickly.

“We need to stop at the usual supermarket because they’re having a special sale. You’re coming with me.”

“Are you my mom?”

Knowing the reason for Hayashi’s rush, I let out a voice of disbelief.

“Do you realize that they’re selling a pack of eggs at a bargain price? There’s a limit of one pack per customer. It’d be crazy not to hurry.”

“That’s why I’m asking, are you my mom?”

“Ugh, whatever. Let’s go. See you later, Akari.”

“Okay. See you later, Megumi. And you, Yamamoto-kun.”

Without much time for goodbyes… or rather, without me being able to say goodbye properly, we finally left Kasahara’s house. Hurrying after Hayashi, we rushed to the supermarket nearest to our apartment. We managed to get two packs of the discounted eggs.

“Perfect, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, if you disregard the fact that I’m groggy from running right after waking up, the result couldn’t be better.”

“So, it’s the best result, right?”

“Stop disregarding my condition so casually.”

On the way back from the supermarket, we walked side by side.

It was dusk. Summer vacation was almost over, but it was still oppressively hot outside.

Hayashi, who had been wearing sweatshirts and long sleeves to hide the bruises on her body when she first came to my room, had recently been able to wear short sleeves as her bruises began to fade. The bandage that had been around her wrist was also removed last week. The gruesome injury she had received from that man who had brought trouble to the police was also healing.

“You know, I’ve been thinking. Wouldn’t it have been better if you stayed at Kasahara’s place?”

This thought occurred to me as I saw Hayashi regaining her normal life.

Kasahara lives two train stations away from the apartment where Hayashi and I are now staying. It’s much closer than her hometown. It’s within a distance where she can easily stay overnight whenever she wants.

“Actually, wouldn’t it have been better if you lived in Kasahara’s room instead of mine?”

And most importantly, I thought that Hayashi would probably be able to sleep more peacefully at night under the care of Kasahara, who she knows well, rather than living with someone like me. Of course, I had no intention of harming her, but she couldn’t possibly know whether I was harmless or not.

“Do you want to upset me?” she asked.

“Where in my remarks did you get the idea that I wanted to upset you?”

“…I’ll tell you. The type of person I hate the most is someone who is unfeeling.”

Unfeeling.

Indeed, that made sense. Hayashi had often shown anger or irritation at my casual comments during high school, but she never demonstrated an outright disdainful attitude.

Sincere, polite, devoted.

The standards Hayashi, who others called a queen, expected from those around her were somewhat low, but they made sense.

Somehow, I understood why Hayashi was angry with me now. In other words, Hayashi was saying not to lump her in with the unfeeling. That’s what she wanted to say.

“…I owe you a debt that I can’t repay no matter how much I try. So, it’s my duty to take care of you by your side.”

Somehow, I felt a prickly sensation on my back.

“You were just about to leave the room until recently, and now you’re being so direct.”

“…I thought that if I were in your position, you’d want me to leave quickly. But, you said it, didn’t you?”

“What did I say?”

“…You said you wouldn’t mind.”

I remember that remark well.

The words I had told her on the day she couldn’t rent an apartment due to various circumstances. My words were blunt, but there were various underlying intentions.

One of them was indeed… I wanted to continue living with Hayashi.

Apparently, Hayashi had picked up on that.

I was genuinely surprised.

Not because she had understood the intention behind my words at that time… but because Hayashi didn’t doubt for a second that I still wanted to live with her. Normally, one would think that it might be self-consciousness. That the other person might not think so.

Despite that, she…

My face feels hot. Is it because my nerves are sharper than usual when I wake up? Probably not. Then why…?

“What’s for dinner today?”

“Tenshinhan.”

“Please.”

With that brief exchange, we headed home. There was almost no conversation from there. The distance from the supermarket to the house is 500 meters. Because there are traffic lights, it takes about five minutes to walk.

During those five minutes, we hardly spoke at all.

Yet, I didn’t feel awkward at all.

…In the beginning, when I first started harboring Hayashi in my room, the silent times were painful. I often wished that Hayashi would say something.

But now, even these silent times feel pleasant.

…A crow is cawing in the distance.

In front of the park, the noisy voices of children echo.

“Hey, Yamamoto?”

Hayashi opened her mouth.

“Do you like Akari?”