Heavy Cleaning

Airi, who was taken aback by Koi's sudden loud voice, felt taken aback. She was about to shout,

'It is my home, not yours,' but seeing Koi's burning, passionate eyes, she swallowed those words and began helping Koi with cleaning with his instructions. She was thankful for the fact that she put her undergarments from the mess otherwise,

'I would have been embarrassed in more than one way,' she pouted as she held the big black bag tightly,

"Those magazines are necessary?" Airi said as she saw Koi pick up some fashion magazines to throw in the bag.

"How exactly?" Koi asked, staring right into her eyes. Airi thought,

'They didn't say he had multiple personality disorder!?' she couldn't comprehend how Koi was acting so thorough and assertive.

"I have a question?" she raised her arm, and Koi nodded,

"What is it? Can't it wait until we are done cleaning,"

"Okay, I will wait," Airi replied and helped clean the apartment quietly. It was not that she was bad at cleaning, but she seldom cared for it. She was satisfied until her bedroom was clean and did not care much for the house unless someone was visiting,

"How could you even make it this dirty?" Koi grumbled as he found balls made out of newspaper and plastic spoons,

"I just forgot about throwing them. "

"Make a habit of throwing them after eating,"

Airi didn't reply and just pouted. After three hours of hard work, the apartment began looking cleaner. Airi finally lay limply on the sofa and breathed heavily because she hadn't done such heavy cleaning since the new year,

"It is finally cleaned," Koi announced happily. He sat on the other sofa on the left side of Airi, who was still breathing heavily,

"Can I now ask my question, Mr. Yamamoto?" she asked, looking straight into Koi's eyes, which intimidated him for a second, and he shook his head, still too exhausted from the rapid cleaning session to think it through when the words escaped from Airi's lips.

"Did you hit your head last night accidentally, Mr. Yamamoto?" and finally, Koi came back to his sense. He calculated his questions in his head,

'What have I done!?' he thought and held his head in between his hands,

'She just let me in her house yesterday, and I scolded her and made her clean…... she is not Shio or Sato!!' finally, he came to resolve and went down to the sofa and kneeled, pressing his head on the floor,

"For my sudden outburst, I am sorry," Koi answered in a firm tone with no shaking in his voice as he remembered his mother's words in mind,

'As mom said, for an honest mistake, the solution is an honest apology,' he kept kneeling for five minutes and then finally peeked up,

"Are you done?" Airi asked with a scary grin, her red eyes sparkling, and Ryu remembered what he thought when he first met her.

'A Grim reaper,' he gulped,

"Mr. Yamamoto, I am really curious how you were so assertive suddenly, so much so that you even scolded me, heh," Airi spoke with a sweet smile, too sweet to be true. It was like a mirage to lure the victim,

"Back at the house, I had two younger sisters…. both of them were a bit similar to Miss. Ito in a certain aspect…. seeing that I accidentally went to my big brother scolding mode," his voice was a bit shaky as the effect of his big brother mode had already worn off, and Airi pouted.

'Why am I younger sister!? When you give away money like an idiot,' she wanted to scold but took a deep breath, as she knew what Koi did was not wrong and was not done with the intention of making her feel bad.

"Your sisters…." Airi said in a cold voice,

"My…. my sisters?" Koi stuttered,

"What are their names?" Airi asked with an inquisitive gaze,

"Older one is Shio, and the younger one is Sato," replied Koi with a happy expression on his face as he was a proud older brother.

"I see; their name sure are matching," Airi said, imagining how Koi's sibling would look,

"They are twins," Koi added, and Airi spoke,

"I see them aside. I still have to see about your behaviour earlier, Mr. Yamamoto. I was hurt. You know even my dad never scolded me like, that, nor did the teachers,"

Koi, who thought he had diverted the topic, completely gulped once again,

'What punishment will she give me…. will I be kicked out?' he thought, and Airi showed a thoughtful expression for a while

"I wonder how you can redeem yourself," she said,

"I will accept.... any punishment or apology, Miss. Ito demands or gives me," Koi said as that was the least he could do to show his sincerity,

'Now that I remembered….' Airi thought and, with a smile on her face, spoke,

"I remember you said no food tonight if I did not clean?"

"I…. I did" Koi felt embarrassed by the stuff he said and nodded,

"So it is final. Then Mr. Yamamoto will cook me a meal tonight, and if I like the taste, I will be appeased," Airi said as she stood up and started walking toward her room. Koi followed behind as he wanted to ask what would happen if she didn't like it and about what they'll do the whole day.

"Miss. Ito, I have a question," Koi asked in a low voice that barely reached Airi, and she ignored it as she thought,

'He needs to talk like he did earlier normally too' and went inside her room and locked it from inside as she wanted to take a bath to wash off the sweat,

Immersed in a bath filled with warm water, Airi felt comfort and said in a low voice,

"No matter the time…. A warm bath is just the best" her cheeks redden a bit as suddenly the image of assertive Koi came into her mind,

'He is full of surprises…' she thought as she let her body relax. Meanwhile, Koi was confused about what he should do, sitting on the living room sofa devoid of any ideas,