Chapter 10

Arriving back at my apartment, I welcome my guest in, Minami. We went home shortly after her confession. I just left a note out for my parents because they were both passed out. No doubt from drinking.

Anyway, flicking the lights on, I show her my quite dingy room. There were clothes scattered all over the floor, unwashed dishes, and lying trash bags. Uh... I forgot to clean up.

She holds her smile. With closed eyes, she looks at me. "This is what you meant by 'doing good' in the phone call?"

"I, uh, it's just... I'm sorry," I reply with my head hung low. There wasn't an actual reason for this mess, I just got lazy to clean it all up.

"Good, I like a guy who owns up to his mistakes," she states with a smile.

Goddamn, I want to kiss you.

"Ahem, I'll get started on cleaning. You can just sit there, alright?"

Grabbing my arm, she protested, "No, I'll help."

"Are you sure...? It's gonna be pretty boring."

"Eh, I don't care. I'm gonna be doing this a lot once I become a housewife anyway."

I felt my face immediately burn up. She didn't specify she'd be my wife, but judging from her cheeky grin, she was implying something. I just shut up and do the work.

Grabbing some more trash bags from the kitchen, I set them down in the room where I see Minami cleaning. Her upper half was practically at a 45-degree angle, while her bottom was in full view. Those—

Mentally slapping myself, I get back to cleaning. But every time I was behind her, I would always catch a glimpse of something exciting... Not on purpose, of course. I just have wandering eyes.

After some work, we were able to make the clean look spic span. All I had to do now was throw out all the trash bags.

"Whew, that sure was a lot of work," Minami said, "I'm kinda tired now. Can I use your shower?"

"Yeah, sure," I point to the door left of my room.

My apartment wasn't that big. The main room was my bedroom with only three other rooms. On the left, was the bathroom. Right, was the kitchen. And the other one is just the hallway leading up to the main room.

Opening the door to the bath, she turns to me for a moment, "No peeking like earlier, okay?" she said with a wink as she entered.

"...She totally noticed."

I bury my face in my hands, failing to hide my embarrassment. Thank god she's not here in the room with me.

Grabbing the trash bags, I reflect on today. It sure was a ride. Graduating, visiting my parents, getting confessed to, and having a date...? A date. Yeah. With Minami. I also had that talk with Amiya before so everything feels perfect.

But man, I wonder if Minami was doing that on purpose? She apparently saw me so why didn't she say anything? It's a man and a woman under one roof, dammit! If I really wanted to, I could have tackled her onto my bed.

But no, I wouldn't do that. Not to Minami and not for my sister... My sister also knew about Minami, though I doubt she remembers my sister. We were so little back then, always vulnerable. I miss that feeling. Vulnerable.

These past few years, I think I've begun putting up walls around myself. Not wanting to get too close to people I didn't already know. Maybe it was just my coping mechanism or just a way to get hurt again.

Either way, I'm glad I could let my guard down today around her. In fact, I let my guard down so much I didn't even notice she was staring. Maybe that's also her own way of telling me she's letting herself be vulnerable?

Gah, let's not focus on that. Let's just throw this trash out already.

Grabbing the three—quite frankly, overfilling—trash bags. Putting them over my shoulder, I open my front door with great difficulty as I make my way outside.

It was already night. I've always liked this time. For me, it felt like the sun setting signaled that their worries were over. People always say that running away from your problems is bad, but I think postponing something can be healthy.

Hell, I've been postponing a lot of my relationships... It would be hypocritical of me to think running away wasn't somewhat helpful.

Finally putting the trash bags in the bins, I decided to take in a bit of fresh air.

Walking outside the gate of the building, I take a deep breath. The air in the countryside still feels better but this wasn't so bad. Just wish I didn't smell a faint hint of smoke though.

"Kazuya...?" a voice called out to me from the side.

There, under the bright illumination of the moon, stood Amiya.

"Kazuya, please... I don't want to just be friends," she whimpered.