Volume 2 - CH 22

Chapter 22: Perverted Karakuri House

TL: Akabane

***

I ended up having tea at Aoyama's house. Although the exterior of the rundown apartment is not very flattering, when I finally enter, I find that the room she lives in is very tidy and quite clean.

Come to think of it, I think it was the same two years ago. Two years ago, I used to visit this house once a week to talk with her about my novels and work on them together.

Looking at her room, such memories gradually come back to me. As I go up to her room with a sense of nostalgia, Aoyama begins to fill the kettle in the kitchen, saying, "I'll make you some tea, so make yourself at home there......."

I sit down in front of the chabutai. I can't help but feel a bit uncomfortable in someone else's house. While I was fidgeting by myself, looking at Aoyama's calligraphy hanging on the wall, the front door suddenly opened.

"I'm home!"

A girl with a school bag on her back walks into the room with a cheerful voice. When she sees me, she tilts her head curiously, "Hm?"

Seeing her like that opens the door to my memory, and I am astonished.

Could it be that this girl is Mii-chan?

But if I remember correctly, she was much younger than that. The last time I saw her was in the second grade, right?　Does that mean she is already in the fourth grade?

I was still a high school student, so I was still acutely aware of how time flies. Mii-chan looked at me like that with her head tilted. But then, unexpectedly.

"Could it be you are my sister's ex-boyfriend?"

The air in the room froze at once as she said this. From the kitchen comes Aoyama's dumb voice, "Hawawa......."

But the kids are cruel. It seems that Mii-chan still has memories of me, and she says, "I knew it. It's her ex-boyfriend!!!" She exclaims happily and comes running to me.

"Onii-chan!　Did you and my sister get back together?!"

She asks me that as she stands in front of me.

I don't know what it is, but it seems like a very bad trend. Completely frozen, Aoyama and I can only stare at Mii-chan, unable to say anything. However, Mii-chan seems to be at an age where she is starting to take an interest in love, and she looks at Aoyama and me alternately with a twinkle in her eye.

I have to get away from the topic somehow here.......

"M-Mii-chan, isn't it? ......You've grown up, haven't you?"

And, like a relative uncle, I decided to admire her growth for now.

But...

"That's it. It's a burner, right?　It catches fire, right?"

"Nah......."

Mii-chan seems to have absolutely no interest in anything other than the relationship between me and Aoyama.

I mean, where did she learn such a word? You little.......

Aoyama rushes over to her in a panic at that shocking statement. Aoyama smiles a wry smile and defends himself in a trembling voice, "Mii-chan ...... I and Mamoru are not like that."

"A-Ahaha ...... Mii-chan, you know difficult words, huh."

At any rate, I join Aoyama too.

Please ...... just stop it.

But Mii-chan's momentum never waned at all. In fact, she punches us harder and harder to finish us off at once.

"Do Onii-chan and Onee-chan play wrestling too?"

OH......NO.......

A ridiculous perverted golden egg was right in front of us. Both Aoyama and I were absolutely mortified by that too-direct question.

What's a wrestling?　I'm a kid, so I don't really know what she mean......

Aoyama, as expected, couldn't take it anymore. Aoyama, still with the same tight smile, said, "Mii-chan, let's go over there and play a game. Let's play a racing game with your sister, okay?" And she tries to change the subject at any cost.

But still....

"You know, Mom, sometimes she play wrestling with Mikawaya Onii-san. That's so tight."

Stop it!　Stop it already!

Who's that Mikawaya's Onii-san?　Are you Sabu-chan?

Now that's the one. That was definitely something I wasn't supposed to hear. ......As proof, Aoyama is clinging to Mii-chan's body with a face that looks as if she's about to start crying.

"Mii-chan ...... let's play racing game, okay......?"

With a voice that is no longer audible, Aoyama still proceeds to play the game with Mii-chan.

Sorry Aoyama ...... but it's too late.

And then Mii-chan said, "Oh!　I promised to play with Ko-kun today!　I'll be back before dinner!" Then she left the house without a carefree look on her face after dropping so many bombshells.

"............"

"............"

"............"

"............"

Left behind in the room, me and Aoyama were the living dead for a while there.

***

We had an unspoken agreement that it was best to pretend it had never happened. We were frozen in place for a while, but the sound of the kettle beeping brought us back to our senses.

"Yes, I'm making tea now......"

I barely answered her back as she ran into the kitchen, "Oh, oh ...... thank you....." She then transferred the hot water to a teapot and came over to me with two teapots and teacups on a tray.

Okay, let's get back to the partition ....... It wasn't there earlier. I didn't hear anything, I don't remember anything.

Aoyama put a teacup in front of me and poured Japanese tea into it.

I thanked her and sipped the teacup quietly. She also poured tea into her own teacup and sipped it.

There was no conversation between the two of us, and we could hear the faint sounds of children playing outside.

It's peaceful. ......It's a peaceful weekday evening.

I exhale, "Haa......" and try to bring my mind back to normalcy.

But....

--- "Oh my God, Tak-kun, where are you touching me?"

Came a cloudy female voice from the other side of the wall.

"This, this apartment wall ...... it's so thin......."

Aoyama immediately afterward muttered shyly with her cheeks tinted.

"It seems so......."

I replied and sipped my tea again.

Then again from the other side of the wall.

--- "No!　Don't touch that part ...... it's embarrassing......"

--- "That's fine. You look like you're feeling good too."

--- "Oh, no, I don't ...... want to do that!"

It's not good. ...... It's very not good.......

Apparently, there was a hint of a strange couple trying to pull something off behind the wall. Aoyama seems to have noticed this as well, and she turns over with her cheeks bright red.

I don't know ...... but how Aoyama reacts to that, it's kind of intriguing.

But now is not the time for me to be intrigued by Aoyama. This is indeed not the time for things to get any more awkward.

"Well, come to think of it, how's your ...... novel?"

I asked Aoyama in a slightly louder voice.

I had to drown out the voices behind the wall by talking to her anyway. Aoyama seemed to have realized my intention and said, "Eh?　I've got a plan for the rest!" I replied in a slightly louder voice.

"Oh, you're so busy, how can you plan something like that? I'm not doing any club activities or part-time jobs, but I'm writing every day while heaving."

That was my honest impression. She must not have much time to write. And yet she manages to post two chapters a day. Where does she really get her perverse ideas?

"Well, umm, ideas are found in everyday life......."

Aoyama blushes even more while answering my question.

"Um, you know ..... Mamoru......."

"Hm?"

"Y-You don't have to read the chapter I'm updating today....."

Aoyama starts to say things that I don't understand.

"Eh?　Why? I'm telling you, I'm reading your work because I think it's interesting. I'd like to see more of your work..."

"Well, that's not what I meant......"

But Aoyama cut me off.

"I-It's fine to read it, but ...... that latest chapter is just something I came up with out of thin air, not something I got the idea from something specific or anything like that......."

"Eh?　What do you mean?"

Aoyama then looked up.

"In today's story, there was a scene where the voices of the hero and heroine doing this and that from the next room could be heard in the other heroine's room. However, it's not like it's modeled after something!!"

With that, Aoyama repeated breathing roughly, "Haa...... haa......."

Seeing her like that, I finally understood.

Apparently, the perverted classmate in front of me had received some kind of divine revelation when she heard the couple's voices coming from the next room just now.

"Oh, oh ...... I get it ....... It's only a model or something."

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. ......"

Aoyama and I were forced to eavesdrop on a couple playing wrestling in the next room for nearly 30 minutes