Half Your Bed Is Mine

　　"Sorry, no, just speak outside if you have something to say."

　　If it wasn't for the dinner, maybe Shinichi would have answered Rui like this.

　　But now, when he saw the woman's serious expression, he stepped away and spoke.

　　"Please come in."

　　Shinichi sat back at the table, "Sit as you please." The chair turned in a semicircle, facing her.

　　"Are you talking about life? Is it early?"

　　To make things easier, Shinichi was half joking.

　　Rui stared suspiciously "What is that?", she clearly asked but not expecting the answer at all, passed by and looked around the furniture of the room.

　　"This is completely different from before."

　　Shinichi crossed his arms in front of his chest.

　　"Have you been to my room before?"

　　Rui's eyes sharpened, and she glanced at him sideways.

　　"Six years ago, I came every day."

　　"...Also, you are completely different from before."

　　Thinking of something, Rui walked towards the bed and sat down.

　　Shinichi frowned slightly.

　　He had changed his mind about this girl, but he didn't expect her to be so rude?

　　Even if there was no malicious intent, it didn't mean that she could sit on someone else's bed without saying a word.

　　Noticing Shinichi's displeasure, Rui looked at him.

　　Gently stroking the blanket, she spoke confidently.

　　"Back then, you slept on the table, and I slept on the bed. So, I own half of this bed, so you shouldn't be angry."

Shinichi was full of question marks, the robber's logic was too strong, and he couldn't react for a while.

　　But before long, one of the words made his eyes widen, and he asked in surprise.

　　"Earlier, in my room, I slept on the table and you slept on the bed?!"

　　"That's right." Rui looked away, shaking her calves on the edge of the bed.

　　"It doesn't matter, what I want to tell you is something else."

　　(No, no, no, this is very important!)

　　(What are you doing to me who is ten years old?! Why do I have to be so condescending?)

　　(And why should I share a room with you? Even a child is too weird, right? What about the living room? Parents don't care?)

　　(Wait, maybe they really don't care...)

　　"Haa..."

　　Shinichi sighed and, the amount of information getting bigger, he felt a pain in his head.

　　He doesn't know what happened between him and Rui when they were ten years old. Even though he instinctively felt that what she said was true, he didn't have any impression of it.

　　For the specific situation, Shinichi still had to ask Rui who was thinking about something.

　　There was no need to ask, because the next moment she was talking to himself.

　　"Hey, do you know when I last saw you?"

　　Shinichi was silent for a moment: "Isn't this six years ago?"

　　 Rui stared at him for a long time.

　　Out of pride, Shinichi didn't avert his gaze, but tapped his fingertips on the table.

　　When the tenth beat was reached, he shook his head with outstretched arms.

　　"Forget it... I didn't recognize you back then, I just found it familiar, so just pretend you're half catty."

　　"Who is the same as you, please don't compare me with you?" Shinichi complained, "Also, you can't finish everything you want to say at once, so you have to play a quiz game with me?"

　　"I didn't say anything." Rui changed from sitting to lying down, leaning her head on the bed with her elbows, and half lying on the bed very naturally.

　　Her white and slender legs were crossed, and her skirt hung down to cover her knees ten centimeters, any movement would reveal her panties.

　　Shinichi was not interested in this junior high school student figure, but urged her to speak quickly.

　　Rui said lightly, "Do you still remember the department store near the train station in the harbor area? I met you there sometime in April."

　　Shinichi thought, then suddenly realized: "At that time."

　　"I was looking for Hina Nee-san who was running around, and the crowd suddenly increased. When I was pushed and couldn't stay still, you helped me." She yawned, looking sleepy, her voice even weaker, "Except for that time, we haven't seen each other for about six or seven years… Actually, I don't remember the exact time clearly."

　　"Yeah, it's been... It's been a long time..." Rui muttered.

　　"Hmm..." Shinichi nodded while thinking, "So what? You came here to lie on my bed just to talk about this?"

　　 Rui closed her eyes slowly, just when Shinichi thought she was going to sleep and was about to go and pull her from his bed, she suddenly opened her eyes again.

　　"You are not the same person as before."

　　She got up from the bed and walked towards him step by step.

　　"It feels like I'm fully awake. This is so different from that time... This should be a good thing, right? I don't know, but I just feel really sorry…"

　　"Well, however, now we're like strangers... No, like cousins who just met. For you, everything from the past has been reset to zero, I came to confirm it."

　　Shinichi slowly lowered his leg, and he sat looking at her.

　　Rui let out a disappointed sigh, and was about to turn around and leave.

　　"I'm done talking, I..."

　　Rui suddenly stopped in her tracks, looked at the bookshelf and showed unexpected astonishment in her eyes.

　　Thinking of something, she asked.

　　"... Let me ask you, are you still having trouble now?"

　　Shinichi followed her gaze to the books neatly arranged on the bookshelf, and answered carefully.

　　"As long as you are human, you will have a problem or two, right?"

　　He doesn't want to explain his recent problems, mostly related to women...

　　"Then do you know how to solve your problem?"

　　"I don't know." Shinichi's tone became slightly displeased, just as he was about to urge Rui to speak quickly.

　　Rui stared straight at him.

　　Memories flickered, in the yellowed picture, a young and childish face replaced the mature face, and the dull-looking boy was holding a book and asking something confusing.

　　(Right now, how do I answer...)

　　The incandescent lamp flickered, back to reality, the boy looked at her with sullen eyes.

　　He looks smarter and happier than before.

　　Rui smiled.

　　"Just leave it to yourself in the future. Your future self should know what to do… Looks like the past you actually did."

　　Shinichi realized that his fist was clenched, and then loosened up little by little.

　　"Although it's embarrassing to forget without permission, it feels like being tricked by a heartless person… But it's okay, it's been so long ago, if I'm the only one who still remembers it, I'll be like a fool."

　　Rui said softly, regained an expressionless face, turned around, and walked towards the door.

　　Shinichi stood up from the chair when he saw that she was leaving.

　　"Wait a minute, so what happened in the past? Why can't I remember anything?"

　　Rui didn't stop, she just spoke calmly.

　　"Six years ago, I read books with you here for a month, except for eating and reading, that's all."

　　"Only when we left did we officially tell each other our names. The relationship wasn't good at all... In other words, we didn't speak a word from beginning to end. At that time, it felt like your room was like a library, quiet and boring."

　　"If it weren't for me, could it have directly become the tomb of the Pharaoh?"

　　Rui opened the door and looked back at him.

　　"About why you forgot… How would I know? I'm not the roundworm in your stomach."

　　"But I guess that's the price for eliminating the problem, right? After all, it's written like this in the novel."

　　Shinichi stood there in a daze.

　　Rui shrugged.

　　"It doesn't matter if you can't remember, it's not the past that matters, so be it."

　　"Good night, Asada-san."

　　Rui left the room.

　　Shinichi looked at the closed door with a confused expression on his face.