Volume 1 - CH 20

Twentieth day of confinement

Translated by SoundDestiny

Edited by Kaepinned

I continue to work on my manga.

Naturally, I don’t forget to practise drawing at the same time.

When I get stuck on a name, I ask Konata to help me with my sketches, both to take a break and to improve my drawing skills.

“It’s about time I run out of patterns for my sketches.”

It has been more than half a month since I started drawing her.

I’ve already tried most of the different ways of looking at it, from the front, to the side, to the back, from standing to sitting.

“Then how about this?”

Saying this, she lies down on my futon.

“No, that’s where I sleep.”

I rush in unintentionally.

I worry that my body odour has seeped in, even though she changes the sheets for me every now and then.

I wonder if it stinks.

“Do you want to sleep with……me?”

She beckons me over with lightly clenched fists, as if imitating a cat.

“Nice jest.”

At first we could only have simple conversations but now we  can even crack a joke.

“I won’t mind trading your futon for my sleeping bag.”

I giggle and reply

“That’s not good enough.”

Sleeping on a JK’s used sleeping bag is a bit perverted.

If it smells good, I’m going to be in agony and if it smells bad, I’m going to be disillusioned.

“Then give it up and draw it.”

“Well, it’s a new pose for sure.”

I give up on my futon and face the drawing tablet.

But it’s still embarrassing.

As if to drown my embarrassment, I reach for the nearest cup of barley tea.

“Gokugokugo──geho, geho, geho.”

Discomfort in my throat.

Coughing, I reflexively held my mouth with my two hands.

“A,are you alright?!”

“Keho, keho. I’m fine, it just went down my windpipe.”

I reply back while wiping my mouth with the hem of my shirt and resume my drawing.

No, I am trying to resume but──

Hikku. 

Hikku. 

Hikku

[TL:Hiccup]

Dumb sounds leaking involuntarily from my throat.

“Hiccups?”

“Looks like it. Hikku. This is troubling. My hand, Hikku. It’s shaking and hard to draw. Hikku first. I have to stop it.”

The spasmodic twitching of the diaphragm, which I cannot control, distorts the lines.

“….. close your eyes.”

She says with a serious expression.

“What? Why?”

“Just close them.”

Konata repeats in a tone of voice that refuses to give an answer.

“Oh,oou.”

I close my eyes as Konata told me to.

The situation suggests that she is trying to do something about my hiccups.

‘Is the thing she’s trying to do that odd that she asks me to close my eyes?’

Is she trying to surprise me, perhaps?

What is she going to do to me?

No way, is it a kiss?

‘Nah, it can’t be. I’ve been reading too many romantic comedy manga. Haha’

The moment I laugh my heart out at the pink fantasy in my brain, I feel a thump in my chest.

My body tilts backwards and I feel pain in the back of my head.

A moment later, breathing stops.

‘I,vI can’t breathe.’

I try to move my arms and legs but for some reason I can’t get any strength.

Are my joints being held down?

“NーNーNー!!”

I open my eyes.

Her bloodshot eyes are right in front of me.

A brown cloth enters the corner of my vision.

‘My nose and mouth are blocked by a pillow.’

I feel my life is in danger.

I now remember my position of being locked up.

But there is nothing I can do when I remember it.

My consciousness is fading away.

‘Is it all over now?’

The moment I am about to give up, she suddenly releases me.

“W,what are you doing all of a sudden?”

I raise my upper body with my arms.

“Well, I heard that for hiccups, it’s good to startle and hold your breath. So I thought it might be more effective if I did both at once.”

Konata backs away as if a little frightened.

“Ee!? A,Aaa….is that so? Hikku.”

“No luck…”

“Hikku”

Suddenly the sound coming from the world disappears.

Konata slender fingers fit snugly in my bilateral ear holes.

I’m going to get brain-chewed!

“Wh, what now?”

I grab Konata’s arm softly and move it out of the way to release the forced earplugs.

“There is also a way to stimulate the vagus nerve behind the ear.”

She says with a puzzled look on her face.

“Y,yeah? Um, I know you’re doing this for me, but next time could you explain it to me beforehand?”

It’s bad for my heart.

“Okay. So… how are the hiccups?”

“Oh, they’ve stopped.”

I gasp and rub my throat.

A radical approach, but it certainly seems to have worked.

“Then resume drawing.”

Learn more

Pause

Unmute

“Aaa.”

I pick up the drawing tablet again.

In many ways, it is a stimulating drawing session.