Expression of Concerns

It was late at night and it was time to go to bed.

When I looked at Airi's face, her eyelids looked heavy and she was sneezing.

I had seen a lot of people who covered their mouths with their hands when they sneezed, but she looked strangely elegant and beautiful when she sneezed. I quickly turned my face away because I felt like she might get angry again if I stared too closely at her.

I had seen men do that too, but I thought there was a world of difference between her and me.

"Should we go to bed now?"

"Right."

The bathroom was small, so we took turns brushing our teeth. I was getting ready for bed before Airi came back from the bathroom.

Just as I was getting ready, a confused voice called out to me.

"Um… There's only one futon. How are we both going to sleep?"

"Ninomiya can sleep on the futon. I'll sleep on the floor."

When I said that, she gave me a troubled look.

Maybe she was troubled using a futon that smelled and was used by a man? I didn't think it smelled that strange, but if someone said it stinks, I'd be hurt.

"Well, um…"

"Maybe you don't like the futon I was using? I'm sorry but I'd appreciate it if you put up with it."

Depressed, I said it without trying to show it on my face. But, Airi shook her head several times and denied it.

"No, that's fine, but it's not okay for Kujo-senpai to sleep on the floor."

"But we can't sleep on the same futon, and we can't buy a futon."

I rejected the idea of sleeping on the same futon. Even though we would be living together, that option was not possible.

And even if we bought a new futon, there was no room for it in a 1K apartment, so this option was not possible either.

However, there was enough room for one person to sleep in the space between the furniture, so I thought it would be ideal for me to sleep on the floor.

So I told Airi to sleep on the futon, but she seemed to disagree and looked like she wanted to complain.

"Then I'll sleep on the floor, and you can sleep on the futon."

She said something outrageous.

Letting the girl sleep on the floor while I slept on the futon was not an option from the beginning.

I looked into Airi's eyes to see if there was some kind of mistake, but she didn't look like she was joking.

"Rejected, I can't accept that."

"But since I'm the one who's allowed to live here, it's the best that I can do."

"Don't say I'm letting you live here. I'm not letting a girl sleep on the floor."

I said it in a tone that didn't allow a rebuttal. I didn't want to hear that I was allowing her to live here. We would be living together so we won't have that kind of hierarchy.

"But…"

"Just sleep on the futon all right?"

"... Yes."

When I forcefully interrupted Airi's attempt to continue arguing with me, she reluctantly agreed.

I turned off the lights, laid down on the floor and wrapped myself in a blanket.

"Good night, Kujo-senpai."

"Good night, Ninomiya."

(Not good, I can't sleep at all.)

I wondered how long it had been since I turned off the lights, but my eyes were clear and I couldn't sleep.

No matter how you look at it, there was a beautiful girl sleeping in the same room with me, and there was no way I could sleep without getting nervous.

Airi seemed to have already gone to bed, and I could hear her steady breathing.

It must have been difficult for her to move in with me, and she must have been very anxious the whole time.

In the pitch darkness, the sound of the air conditioner running and her breathing echoed softly in her sleep, and I lost myself in thought.

(A lot has changed in just one day.)

A beautiful, silver-haired, blue-eyed girl had entered the school, and I suddenly found myself living with her and sleeping in the same room like this.

If I were to tell Minato of the day before, about today, he would never believe me, or rather, I still wouldn't believe me.

Airi Ninomiya.

At the entrance ceremony, at the family restaurant, and when she came to my room, she looked lifeless and frankly unapproachable, but in the past few hours, I had seen many different expressions on her face.

An embarrassed face, a stunned face, and a smiling face. They were all slight changes in expression, but I didn't think of her like a doll anymore.

There were many times when I offended her and she would give me a terrifying blank expression or a pasted-on smile, but it was my fault for asking insensitive questions, so I wasn't going to be upset with her.

If there was a reason I should treat her as a stranger…

(I don't know why it bothers me.)

She was beautiful and I was aware of her as a girl, but I was not in love with her.

As I was looking back on today to see what caused it, I remembered her doll-like expressionless face and distorted smile. Those expressions made me feel bad and uncomfortable.

I wondered why, but I couldn't come up with an answer. In the end, all I could think of was to pay as much attention to her as possible and try not to make her give me that look again.

I figured there was no point in thinking about it anymore, I surrendered to the sleep that had finally come to me.