Volume 9 - CH 1
November arrived. The summer heat that made the asphalt melt had long disappeared, and instead grew cold according to the surrounding early winter air, announcing a change of seasons. However, that was only the blessing of fall. Chestnuts, persimmons, saury…it’s the season for peculiar tastes such as these, as the days were oddly peaceful. Of course, that was the same for me.
“Here, it’s done, stupid chicken.”
“Ohh, thanks a bunch, Masamune.”
After I gave my proper gratitude, I accepted my breakfast, as well as the miso soup. What use is there to hide this? I was in Usami Masamune’s room. She is a fellow second-year student at Rouran Academy, and a member of the handicrafts club.
Today is the 14th of November, a Sunday. Through various ups and downs, it was decided that me and my little sister Kureha would be living in her apartment, located in a high-class flat, and it’s already been a month since we moved in here.
“Where’s Kureha?”
“Probably still sleeping? She’s got a bad habit of sleeping in, right?”
We sat at a luxurious and large table located in the kitchen. Still wearing her apron, Masamune sat down on a chair facing me.
“Same as always, then. Should we eat before her?”
“Sure, let’s. I’d feel bad waking her up.”
“Guess so. Just wondering though, Masamune.”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“What’s that outfit about?” I said to Masamune.
She’s wearing a swimsuit plus apron combination. In other words, she barely wore anything. Don’t ask me why, but she had put an apron over her orange swimsuit, sitting on the chair like it was totally normal.
“What are you talking about? I’m wearing this to cure your gynophobia of course.”
“That’s quite the aggressive treatment, alright.”
“Living here together with you for one month, I realized. With any half-baked methods, there’s no way we’ll get to cure your gynophobia. That’s why, you also need to get used to looking at women like this.”
“I seriously doubt there will be such a subliminal effect…”
I mean, because Masamune looks like this, I can’t help but become conscious of her as a girl, but…
“What’s that gloomy look for? Does it not look good on me or something?” Masamune stood up, and twirled on the spot once.
……This is bad. This might actually be much more destructive than I initially assumed. A swimsuit apron is no joke. To think she’d pull out the big guns like this. This world is a crazy place.
“But, why did you go for such a maniacal outfit?”
“Eh? You like this sort of stuff, right?”
“I sure don’t.”
“…Stupid chicken, why are you taking my feelings into consideration? We’ve been living together for a full month now, there’s no need to hide it.”
“If anything, you stop acting so kind now!”
Was I the type of character who had such messed up interests!? I mean, if she was wearing a garter belt now, that might have been the best combination possible, but still.
“First up, aren’t you embarrassed looking like that?”
“Not really? Just to let you know, but since we’re living together, this much is normal.”
“Really now…”
“More importantly, haven’t you forgotten something, stupid chicken?”
“Yeah yeah.” I let out a sigh, and faced my food, saying ‘Thanks for the food’.
Today’s menu is steaming hot rice, together with grilled mackerel, giving off a delicious scent, as well as clam miso soup, and natto. Any person with Japanese origin would grin in joy at this course. Ahh, I’m glad I was born in this country. And as I was thinking that, I stuffed my mouth with the food.
“…How is it?” An anxious voice rang out.
I turned towards the source of that voice, and found Masamune giving me a worried gaze. After living together with her for a whole month, so I know just what she wants to hear.
“Yeah, it’s really delicious. Thanks, Masamune.”
“It’s…it’s not like I wanted you to thank me or anything. I just wanted your impressions, as the person who made the food…!” Masamune must have been embarrassed to be praised like that, because she slurped up some miso soup.
Living together with her for such a long time, it’s painfully obvious. She’s actually a bit of a spoiled child. It might be because of her environment, but she’s like a rabbit who likes attention from its owner, and wants to be praised for doing well. When I look at her that way, she sure can be cute.
“Still, I’m glad that we get to live here, you really saved us.” I took out the bones from the fish, as I spoke up.
Until last month, Kureha and I were staying in the residence of Suzutuski Kanade. Since I was treated like a dog at best, and toy at worst, making me feel like I was working for a black company, this kind of lifestyle is like a blessing.
‘—I will have you become my family!’
It’s all thanks to Masamune saying that. Her apartment was way too big for a single high school girl anyway, and Kureha and I could easily inhabit other rooms, so I’m honestly grateful.
“…Yeah. But, I’m also happy.”
I didn’t expect to hear these words from her mouth. It even made me go ‘Eh?’ in shock, as I stared at her.
“I’ve been living here all on my own, so having you two with me is much better. It’s gotten a bit more chaotic for sure, but this isn’t all bad.”
“Masamune…”
“W-What!? Don’t look at me like that! I’m feeling embarrassed enough already!”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. If anything, when I headed to the supermarket yesterday was far more embarrassing.”
“Hm? What happened?”
“You don’t even remember? When we went to buy dinner yesterday, the lady working there teased us with ‘Oh my, oh my, newlyweds?’, right…”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah stop, stupid chicken!”
Masamune finally remembered the scenery I was talking about, and started blushing furiously, flailing her arms up and around. Well, we are living together, so it makes sense that she would get the wrong idea like that.
“………”
Though, it’s just as Masamune said, this sort of thing isn’t bad once in a while. How do I say this, this atmosphere just feels so warm and comfortable. Looking at that detrimental event that happened in October, this is doing wonders. After all, that was my first experience. Now I’m feeling better, and it’s all thanks to Masamune.
“Ah, stupid chicken. You have some rice on your cheek.”
“Eh? Seriously? Where?”
“Ah, stupid, not there. Geez, you’re helpless, I’ll take it off for you.”
“Eh…No, you don’t have to. I mean…”
“You mean?”
“Well…it’s embarrassing.”
“…What are you talking about? Yesterday we…even slept in the same room…”
“……!”
I remembered the scenery from the previous night, and started blushing. To put it simply, it was all Kureha’s fault. She went and rented a DVD at a sale, and that turned out to be a horror movie. Not to mention that it was quite the shocking and maniacal one, so all three of us were shaking in our boots while watching that.
The problem is what happened after that. For some reason, Masamune came to my room once we decided to head to bed. She herself said ‘Y-You’re wrong! The feng shui is telling me that sleeping in this room today will give me better luck!’ or something like that, but she was clearly just too afraid to sleep on her own. Also, I bet she doesn’t even believe in feng shui.
Either way, as I tried to deal with my embarrassment, Masamune slept in the same room as me…Of course, I’m betting my pride as a man on the line, and state that nothing of what you may think of happened. After all, I have my gynophobia.
“……”
But, how do I say this, I think sleeping in the same room was too much after all. That actually makes us seem like newlyweds…
“Come on, I’ll pick it off you.”
“Ah.”
As I was thinking about that, Masamune already grabbed the rice grain from my cheek. She carried the small grain into her own mouth, and…Wait, why is she just eating it?
“W-What? It would be a waste, right?”
“I mean…that doesn’t mean you should just eat it.”
That’s hella embarrassing. Thanks to that, I could feel my face growing even hotter.
“Hey, stupid chicken.” I was trying to cool down a bit, when Masamune muttered with a quiet voice. “…Can I sleep in your room again today?”
“Huh? I don’t mind, but are you still scared or something?”
“S-Shut up, okay! That movie was just…too much. People were dropping like flies.”
“Well yeah, it is a horror movie.”
“Not to mention…sleeping next to you calms me down.”
“………”
Um, Masamune-san, could you not blurt out embarrassing stuff like that? Rather than cooling down a bit, my body is burning up even stronger, it might accelerate global warming.
“……”
Then again, just as she said, something like this isn’t bad in a while. A sweet and comfortable lifestyle, the exact opposite of the chaotic and hellish life at the Suzutsuki Residence. Thinking about it, since I was raised in a house of wrestling maniacs, I probably always wished for this kind of relaxed day to day life. It’s like a dream come true, I’m so happy.
Soon enough winter will come around, and the air will get cold, but I’ll surely survive with the warmth filling this apartment. And in the meantime, I’ll continue to live this dream of me and Usami Masamune living a happy life together—
×
“Wake up already, stupid chicken!” A cold and piercing voice pulled me out of my slumber.
At the same time, a sharp pain assaulted my stomach, making me scream like a cat that just had its tail stepped on, my body folding up into a beautiful V. Indeed, I was woken up by a beautiful axe kick. Damage-wise, it felt like Masamune held back a lot, but it was plenty to wake me up for sure. It was quite the fresh way of waking up, although much more kind compared to Kureha’s way of waking me up.
“…Y-Yo. Morning, Masamune.” I took a deep breath, and finished my greeting.
Checking the time, it was currently half past 7am. Next, I spotted Masamune’s long leg, wrapped in black kneesocks, stepping onto me. Of course, she wasn’t wearing any aggressive swimsuit apron, but normal casual clothes.
“Don’t ‘Morning’ me, okay. You’re honestly awful at getting up in the morning. I don’t blame your little sister for waking you up with wrestling moves.”
“You still don’t need to kick me, right?”
“I didn’t kick you, I was stepping on you.”
“What’s the difference!?”
“I mean, no matter what I said, you wouldn’t wake up. Also, were you having a weird dream by any chance?”
“Eh…”
Huh? I wonder why, I can’t remember anything about that supposed dream. I feel like it was a pretty fulfilling dream, but…
“Well, I can tell it wasn’t anything worthwhile. You were grinning the entire time while you were sleeping.”
“It’s bad taste to stare at other people’s sleeping faces.”
“I…I wasn’t staring at anything! I was just stating what I saw!”
“Really now. More importantly, Masamune.”
“What do you want?”
“Can you take your leg off of me now? From this angle, I can see inside your skirt, which is bad for my hea—Guh!?”
Even though I was trying to be honest and straightforward, Masamune stomped onto my stomach once again. This time, with much more force.
“Dummy! Stupid chicken!” Masamune was fuming with anger, and walked back to the kitchen.
“…Geez.” I let out a sigh, and slipped out of bed to do some stretches.
I am the oldest son of the Sakamachi Family, I won’t break down from something like this. I’ve been through much worse.
“Ah, still…”
I wonder why…this lifestyle, this mood, I’ve fully gotten used to it now. It’s been one month since me and Kureha moved in here with Masamune. It feels weird to think that so much time has passed.
‘—I will have you become my family!’
With these words, Masamune used the master ticket that she got from Derechuki-san, and freed me and Kureha from that hellish place. Still, this is nothing but a fake family. After all…
“I’m still being treated the same way as over there.”
I looked at the sleeping space I just slept on, and let out another sigh. This might just be worse than what I got at the Suzutsuki Residence—Namely, a sleeping bag. You heard me right, I was using the balcony of Masamune’s apartment up on the high-class flat as my sleeping space, snuggling up in a sleeping bag every night. You really never know what will happen in life. I never would have imagined sleeping on the balcony of an apartment. Not to mention…
“This is my room, huh…”
I uttered the same words I voiced when I first laid eyes upon this a month ago—a cardboard box. It was put down in the corner of the balcony, a small residence that mainly consisted of cardboard. Not to mention that there was ‘Stupid Chicken’ written above the entrance, with unbefitting adorable handwriting. Indeed, this cardboard house is my home, and inside of that is the sleeping bag. This seriously is almost like—
“—A small dog pen.” I let out another sigh, and reminisced about the happy dream I had, the sadness and pain stabbing right into my chest as I did so. This is, indeed, reality.
Even if my current place of living changed, my treatment is the same—a dog.
×
“That can’t be helped, you know? After all, I decided to keep you two.”
Inside Masamune’s apartment, the living room to be exact, Masamune munched on a toast, and explained.
“Can you stop saying ‘Keep’? I really feel like an animal here.”
“Why?”
“Why, you ask…”
“I mean, this is my home. Since you two can’t cook, I have to take care of that for you. Not to mention that I do the other housework and laundry…”
“…I’m terribly sorry. It’ll make me feel even more awful, so please stop.”
“Not to mention that you’re forcing me to wash your underwear…”
“Can you not make it sound like I’m some deviant!?”
I’m properly washing my own underwear, right. By hand, not to mention. Over the past month, I’ve started to feel like a survivalist.
“What am I supposed to do? I don’t want to wash your underwear together with my own clothes.”
“Are you an adolescent girl or something?”
“I am, yes, what about it?”
“…Eh, you were?”
“What’s that supposed to mean!?”
“I mean, you feel more like a Mom than—Guho!?”
Masamune’s heel stabbed right into my shin beneath the table.
“What did you just say?”
“I-I’m very sorry…”
“This isn’t something you can just say and apologize later. One more time, and I’ll get rid of your cardboard box house.”
“…Yes, I understand, Masamune-san.” I could only lower my head in defeat.
Just sleeping on the balcony with a sleeping bag is tough. That old fart sure enough went through that himself, but I’m not as tough as him. Well, I know that I was a bit rude back there. After all, Masamune was kind enough to take us in. I’m just sponging off her. Since I’m handing off the monthly living expenses we get from Mom to Masamune, I at least get to keep some pride as a man.
“Also, why am I staying in a cardboard box anyway?”
“You asked me the same question a month ago, right?”
“Indeed, and I’ve been doing that every single day.”
“Then you should know the answer to that already, don’t you? That’s more than enough for your room.”
“…Didn’t you say that we will become your ‘family’? Is this how you treat family?”
“What are you talking about? Pets are family too, right?”
“………”
For some reason, Masamune’s face didn’t seem like she was joking about that. Why are human rights activists not targeting her? Won’t somebody adopt me? I don’t feel welcome here.
“Isn’t it fine? A cardboard house is becoming a trend recently.”
“I feel like a grade school student could come up with a better design for his summer homework.”
“S-Shut up! I’m not some architect! I made something for you, so be thankful!”
“That doesn’t explain why you have to treat me like a pet…”
“It’s fine, this flat allows pets.”
“That’s not the problem here, clearly!”
“Then what’s the problem? You were wearing a dog costume at Suzutsuki Kanade’s place, right? I think this is much better for you.”
“Urk…!”
I can’t argue back. It’s true that this is probably better than when I lived at Suzutsuki’s place. Sleeping on the balcony makes me feel like some plant rather than a pet or human being, but at least I’m not being worked to death. That being said…
“Hey, even if you and Kureha are using a room, there should be another one free for me, right? Can’t you just let me stay inside—”
“Don’t wanna.” She said, clearly denying my hopes and dreams. “Stupid chicken, it’s not that I don’t have any faith in you. However, you’re an adolescent boy, so if I lower my guard once, you might just be tempted into doing something reprehensible.”
“Reprehensible…”
“For example, secretly washing my underwear…”
“So me being a kind and caring husband is not good?”
“Y-Y-You’re not my husband!”
“Why are you desperately denying that?”
“T-That’s…Anyway! You’ll be staying there. I can rest easy since I lock the door at night as well.”
“You’re the only one who’s gonna rest easy.”
Right now things are still fine since it’s November, but once December comes around, I’ll probably freeze to death, you know? I’m already living in a high-rise flat, that kind of death would just be pathetic.
“What? If you have any complaints, why don’t you go back to that residence?”
“……!”
…I can’t. That’s the one thing I can’t do. Because she—Konoe Subaru—is there. She’s the girl I like. Last month, I finally realized my own feelings, and went all out to confess, but I was rejected without mercy. I was rejected with a clean cut. Basically, I’m sitting here with a broken heart.
‘Man up, you pussy’, I can hear a lot of people say, but they just don’t realize what this feels like. Think about my feelings. It’s been one month, and I have yet to get over her. Can someone cast hypnosis on me?
“Not to mention, one month ago, I asked you if you were really fine with coming to my place, right?”
“Yup, and I agreed back then.”
Back in late September, they told us that the rebuilding of our house would take around two months, so I figured that I could leave Masamune’s place right away, but life isn’t as kind as that. Because of the heavy rain in October, the progress of the renovation was pretty much halted, and now it will have to wait until the end of the year. That’s why Kureha and I are still living here.
“…Kureha? Could you grab the milk for me?”
“Y-Yeah. Here, Nii-san.” Kureha sounded conflicted, as she grabbed the milk for me.
It was weird for her to be this silent. For the past month, the little monster of my family has been like this. The reason for that was the wrestling incident on the final day we stayed at the Suzutsuki Residence. I asked her to torment me more because I was just rejected, but that apparently turned into a trauma of hers. She probably thinks I’ve gotten batshit crazy.
Well, I really can’t blame her for that. If I saw someone from my family end up like a psycho, I’d immediately send them to the hospital, or skip directly to the police. Either way, Kureha’s gotten oddly docile as of late. She never even woke me up with her wrestling moves since. Thanks to that, Masamune’s duty now was to wake me up instead. I’m happy that I was freed of the wrestling wakeup, but since this turned into another part of my family life in a different way, I can’t say I’m particularly happy.
“Anyway, it’ll still take time until your house will be rebuilt, right? I’m letting you stay here. You should be thankful that you can stay in such a high-class flat.” The dear apartment owner puffed out her chest.
…Oh yeah, talking about this flat.
“So, Masamune, haven’t things…gotten a bit weird lately?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“I mean…Ever since Kureha and I moved in here, weird things have happened, yeah?”
“Hmm…You’re not wrong, but it really wasn’t that big of a deal, right?”
“……”
No no no, your mental strength is just far greater than ours, but this definitely is a big deal, you hear me? One month ago, when we came here, what first surprised us…was a supernatural phenomenon. Basically, there’s a poltergeist around here. You may wonder why a poor girl like Masamune gets to live in such a high-class flat, but the reason for that is this was an actual haunted apartment, which drastically lowered the rent.
Right from the very day, I understood just why that was the case. Every night I’m plagued by sleep paralysis, I hear some weird rapping sounds, tableware placed somewhere none of us remembered, the TV turning on and off again, and other incidents and phenomena that were awful for my heart. No doubt about it, this place is cursed.
However, all of that stopped not too long ago. Personally speaking, I’m very happy about that, sure, but since it stopped so abruptly, I don’t really know what to feel, and it’s creeping me out more than anything. Just what…
“…Listen, Nii-san.” There, Kureha was the one to open her mouth.
Before, she was terrified just staying in this place. At first, she pretty much slept in Masamune’s room out of fear. That’s right, she‘s absolutely awful with occult stuff. After all, she can’t win against something that doesn’t have a physical body. But, this is rare. I didn’t expect her to bite on this topic she’s bad at.
“Nii-san, can I tell you?”
“Y-Yeah, what’s up?”
“The thing is…I’ve been trying to say this for a long time, but…around three weeks ago, during a certain night…I met them.”
“………”
Immediately after she finished her words, I felt goosebumps all over my body. Who is she talking about? I wanted to ask, but my mouth wouldn’t move. It’s like I had a curse put on me.
“I think it was like 3am? I needed to go to the toilet, so I left the room…and then ran into them.”
“Ran into…What?”
“As I said…them.”
“……”
D-Don’t tell me…is she talking about the Gs that haunt this place? And no, I’m not talking about a G*ndam or something like that. I mean the real GHOSTs.
“I was shocked, you know…”
“W-Well, I’m sure you would be.”
If I ended up in that same situation, I’d be scared to death. Of course, besides the three of us, nobody is supposed to live here.
“She looked like a young woman wearing a white one-piece, with long hair, and she suddenly said ‘Hey, how about we play together?’, and then…”
“……”
“I…I was really scared, so…”
“S-So…?”
Before I realized it, even my voice was shaking. If she’s telling me this, then it can’t be any laughing matter.
“I…I…” Kureha swallowed her breath, and continued. “I…threw her.”
“……”
Alright, stop there, my sister. What the hell did you just say?
“As I said, I reflexively threw her.”
“T-Threw her…”
“Not to mention with a German suplex.”
“The heck are you talking about!?”
“Honestly, it was just in the spur of the movement. If that was a 2v1, I would have thrown the towel.”
“……”
…Scary. Rather than some random ghost, I’m much more terrified because of my little sister who just pulled a German suplex on a G.
“So, this is where it gets important.” Kureha continued.
Eh? We’re not done yet? Did she get possessed after that or something? That would be troublesome, we’d have to call for an exorcist right away…
“After I threw that woman, she slowly stood up…”
“Y-Yeah…”
“And then she looked at me with a super serious face, saying the following—” She looked at me with wide open eyes. “‘Thank you very much, now I can finally move on’.”
“Like hell she did!” I screamed without restraint.
If this was a certain famous baseball manga, I would have flipped over the table without restraint.
“I-I’m not lying! This all happened!”
“Calm down, Kureha. You’re just tired.”
“I’m not tired either!”
“No, you’re probably possessed.”
“Possessed!?”
“Ahh, I’m sorry Mom, I couldn’t protect your daughter…”
“Please stop treating me like I’m dead already!?” Kureha was fuming with anger.
I mean, what kind of development was that supposed to be? She passed on because you German supplex’d her? Sounds like it could be straight out of a manga, but not reality.
“I mean, I thought it was rude to just do that to her right after we met.”
“Rather than rude, if you did that in the middle of town, you’d get arrested.”
“That’s why I decided to listen to Sakamoto-san.”
“Sakamoto who!?”
“Huh? I’m talking about that woman. We introduced ourselves to each other, and she told me her name.”
“Alright, I don’t even know how to react anymore, so can you stop with this episode already!”
Did she actually get possessed or something? Talking with ghosts definitely ain’t normal.
“So then, according to her, she’s pretty exhausted. You know, with the whole economic slump recently.”
“I don’t think ghosts are bothered by that.”
“She said that watching TV all day just made her feel depressed.”
“She’s quite naive, huh…”
“That’s why she decided to pass on. Honestly speaking, she got tired of playing with you, Nii-san.”
“So all these supernatural phenomena around me were just her playing around!?”
I’m going to slaughter you, Sakamoto! No, wait. Sakamoto-san’s already dead. Her main profession is being a ghost after all.
“So then, when I pulled a German suplex on her, she apparently felt satisfied.”
“Why would a ghost feel satisfied after experiencing a German suplex?”
“According to her, she was a professional wrestler. That’s why she wanted to be thrown like that one more time.”
“What an awful lingering regret to have.”
“After I did that, she said ‘I can pass on now, right?’, you know.”
“You already passed on!”
You’re dead! You already passed the goal, with the tape hanging around your waist! You only stayed in this world because you wanted a trigger to pass on, right!?
“She also said ‘I’m sorry that you had to play along with my pranks to pass the time’.”
“Wait, so all those supernatural activities that happened in here…were all her doing? All to pass the time?”
“Sakamoto-san said that she always loved scaring people. That’s why she gave it her best when she became a ghost.”
“Nobody asked her to do that, for Christ’s sake.”
What is she, some comedian who just debuted? She’s working so hard for all the wrong reasons. Think about my feelings, okay.
“Her final words were ‘Thank you, and goodbye’, and then disappeared.”
“She left pretty easily, huh…”
“Ah, actually, I just remembered. She said ‘Thank you, and goodbye…See you in hell, shitty four-eyes’.”
“Was that last remark really necessary, you wench!?”
“Nyahaha. It’s fine, Nii-san, she was probably just joking around. She had a great humour, I could tell.”
“That doesn’t mean she should wish for me to fall down into hell…”
Sakamoto-san, please end up in heaven, so I can meet you again once I pass on as an old man. I’ll give you a nice souvenir.
“Well, this happened about three weeks ago. I have the habit of being half-asleep if I wake up in the middle of the night, so I don’t know if this actually happened or if I was just dreaming. That’s why I never told you about it, but now that I spoke of it, I feel so refreshed~” Kureha showed a joyful grin.
…Please let that be a dream. That’s what I wished from the bottom of my heart. That story just now can’t have happened in reality. I guess she didn’t tell us about it until now because she didn’t want to be thought of as crazy and delusional. That being said, it might just be a pure coincidence, but if all those supernatural phenomena now stop, I’m not complaining, and I’m sure Masamune should also be…
“Uuuu…Goodbye, Sakamoto-san…”
“Why are you crying!?” I threw in a retort.
As large tears came streaming down her cheeks, Masamune muttered to herself. Why is she so sad that Sakamoto-san passed on?
“S-Shut up, I can’t help it.”
“Why…are you so depressed now?”
“I mean, I’m always alone here, so having someone else with me was just so much relief for some reason…”
“………”
I mean, this ‘someone else’ is a ghost. Also, she gets lonely pretty easily, huh? Despite being a nasty rabbit.
“………”
Well, taking the environment she was raised in, I can’t blame her. Before we came here, she’s been living in this high-class flat all by herself. Of course, her family’s circumstances is an easy argument to seal this discussion, but she’s currently in a situation where she’s forced to live away from her parents. That’s why she’s probably lonely all the time. She’s still only a high school student like us. That’s why…us coming here might have been the most convenient move for her.
“Mnn, thanks for the food. Nii-san, I’ll do some practice for my club.” Kureha finished eating her strawberry jam toast, and clapped her hands together.
“Huh? Masamune, you’re not going with her?”
“I’m on break. It’s her personal practice, right? Who would want to practice on a Sunday?”
“Ehh? It’s fun, so just tag along!”
“The only person who would enjoy that kind of practice is the vice prez. Ah, Sakamichi, will you be back by 3pm?”
“Ehmmm…I don’t know? It depends on the practice…”
“I see. There’s a special sale at the supermarket today, so if you can’t make it home by 3pm, I’ll take the stupid chicken with me.”
“Roger, Usamin-senpai.”
“…How many times do I need to tell you not to call me like that…”
“Nyahaha, isn’t it fine? We’re something like a family already. Anyway, I’ll see you later!” She said, and ran out of the living room.
She really does not know how to calm down. Also, what does the handicrafts club do for personal practice?
“Your younger sister sure knows how to cause a ruckus.” Masamune said, while putting away her tableware.
Oh yeah, Kureha’s feeling a bit better now. Maybe she really was feeling better now that she told us about Sakamoto-san? I don’t mind that she’s back in high spirits, but I hope she’s not going to torture me with wrestling moves again.
“Then again, being together with someone like her doesn’t hurt once in a while.”
“Eh?”
As I was lost in my thoughts, Masamune suddenly blurted that out.
“The thing is…since I’m an only child, I always wanted siblings.”
“H-Huh…”
“Wha…what’s wrong!? Why are you giving me such a complicated look!”
“I mean…you want siblings, but you know how she is, right?”
Sakamachi Kureha is far too dangerous. It’d genuinely be better to have her as an endangered animal under the Washington Treaty, and put her into the Ueno Animal Zoo. Since I’ve lived together with her for the past ten years, I can confidently say that she’s like a lion or a Siberian tiger. I never know when she’ll eventually come to bite me.
“But, should be fine if you get used to it, right?”
“You can say that because you never got used as a punching bag for wrestling techniques.”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to tame her if you prepare food for her.”
“See, you’re seeing her as a pet!”
How far is she going to deny Kureha’s human rights? Am I the pet dog, and Kureha the pet cat here? In return for having a place to sleep, we’re being trained by her.
“I’m not planning on making her my pet or anything.”
“Then why would you make it sound that way?”
“That’s because…Calling you like a family face to face is embarrassing…” She muttered towards the end, as her cheeks were red.
Family, huh…It is pretty embarrassing, but looking at our current relationship, that term might be the closest…Kureha, Masamune, and I are living under the same roof. At first, I needed to get used to it a bit, but it’s already been a month. Humans really can get used to everything out there, and I’m sure Masamune must be the same. She’s gotten used to Kureha a lot. I could see them as sisters even. Honestly speaking, it was something I would have never imagined to see from her.
—After all, she was unable to put faith into people. Raised in a complicated family environment, she became unable to trust people. Even now, she’s slowly opening up her heart to Kureha. Well, I bet that Kureha’s personality did a lot to help with that. She’s open with anybody, and is bad at lying. That’s why this current relationship isn’t too bad. She always wanted a family after all. At the same time, Kureha and I were looking for a place to live.
Us living together is probably the smoothest way to resolve all of these problems. It’s like we’re granting each other’s desires. The reason Masamune uses the word ‘Pet’ is because she’s embarrassed, I bet.
“……”
And, I might have used this new lifestyle in order to forget about the incident with Konoe—my broken heart. Even now, I can vividly remember the scenery from back then. At the night parade, upon hearing my confession, Konoe bluntly rejected me…
“……”
Oh yeah, we didn’t really talk ever since back then. We said that we’d stay as best friends, but it’s been awkward since. That’s why I don’t really know what to do. Because I haven’t talked with her as a friend for such a long time, I’m still not over her.
“—!”
No, maybe it’s just that I don’t want to get over her? I mean, it’s been a whole month since I was rejected, and yet—
“Now that breakfast is over, how about we start?”
A voice called out to me, I finally returned to reality. Standing there was Masamune, who had finished cleaning up even my own tableware. She wore a small pink t-shirt, together with a white shirt, and black knee socks. It looked like she was pretty conscious of her own appearance even at home. On the contrary, Kureha wore pretty loose clothes. It was always jerseys or pajamas.
“Also, what are we starting?” I asked, confused.
Today is Sunday. To us high school students, this should be a day of rest. So, why does she make it sound like we have some important plans today…
“…Are you still half asleep or something?” Masamune complained. “We’re going to fix your gynophobia of course.”
“……”
…That’s right. I completely forgot about that. Maybe I am still half asleep. Over this past month, as I was living here at Masamune’s home, she’s been doing some spartan attempts at curing my gynophobia. Since those days were far too stimulating and traumatising for me, I’d rather not go into detail here, but I probably suffered from a nosebleed and passed out as many times as there are stars in the sky. I’m a bit exhausted, if you catch my drift.
“Come on, don’t look so bothered just by the idea of it. You want to get rid of your gynophobia, right?”
“Urk…I sure do, but…”
“Then you should be thankful, I’m going to help you with my own body.”
“Yeah, I guess…But, aren’t you getting a bit too into it?”
I mean, she sure seems dead-set on curing my gynophobia. Is there any reason why she’s this desperate?
“I-I’m not getting into it at all…It’s just…”
“It’s just?”
“A-As friends…I’m thinking that it would be good for you if you got rid of your gynophobia, so that you can experience love with a girl…”
For some reason, she started fumbling over her own words towards the end. Well, I can see that she’s serious about wanting to help me, even if her methods are a bit too extreme. But, that’s just fine. Ever since I left the Suzutsuki Residence, I haven’t met Suzutsuki either. We would run into each other at school, but not talk much. It’s almost like she’s avoiding me. On top of that, the relationship between Konoe and Suzutsuki started looking a bit awkward lately.
“Then, let’s start. Don’t worry, I came up with a proper method today.”
“Urk…”
Hearing these words from Masamune sounded like a death sentence to me. Please, don’t. All the methods she could come up with are pure torture to me. It’s like shock treatment.
“Hehe, it’s fine.”
However, to my surprise, Masamune said the following.
“Today’s method is a bit more docile.”
“Eh?”
“I realized, you know. There’s a fairy tale called ‘The North Wind and The Sun’, right?”
“North wind and the sun?”
Is that the one where the North wind and sun see who can make the traveller take off his clothes faster? The North wind immediately goes on the aggressive, trying to forcefully blow off the traveler’s clothes, but that doesn’t work out. The winner was the sun, who slowly warmed up the traveler to the point he would take off his clothes.
“Basically, it’s the same as that.”
“You’ll try to make me take off my clothes?”
“D-D-D-Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Then what else are you planning?”
“You still don’t get it? Basically, I’ve been acting like the North wind so far. I was too forceful in trying to make you get over your gynophobia. However, I’ll change my approach now, and take it slow.”
“Take it slow…”
I have no idea what she’s talking about. I just hope it’s a warm and cozy method like the sun.
“By the way, if this method doesn’t work, I’m going back to North wind mode.”
“Huuuh!?”
“Isn’t that obvious? I don’t like spoiling others, so take today as a special service. If this doesn’t show any results, I’m going back to the spartan treatment.”
“………” I felt a cold sweat run down my back.
Waaaah, she’s putting so much pressure on me. She’s like scorching sunshine right now. Also, can a nasty rabbit like her even do some warm and cozy method?
“Alright, stand up.”
I felt anxious, as I stood up from my seat. This was her home, I had no right to disagree.
“Don’t move, okay?”
She said, and lined up next to me. We basically stood shoulder to shoulder.
“Alright, preparations are complete.”
“? Preparations?”
“Eh…t-that’s…”
“Also, can’t you tell me the method you came up with already?”
I want to at least mentally prepare myself. No clue what’s happening after all.
“Urk…O-Okay then…” For some reason, Masamune started blushing. “The two of us…will hold hands!”
“…What?”
For a second, I blanked out. I mean, compared to every other method Masamune came up with, holding hands was pretty tame. But…I wonder why. Because it’s so simple, and straightforward, I feel much more embarrassed.
“….!”
Ba-dump! I suddenly grew conscious of Masamune, as my heart skipped a beat. That’s right, I’ve gotten used to it quite a bit over the past month, but…I still am living in a girl’s room. I’m living with her. Of course, Kureha is living with us as well, and my room is a cardboard box on the balcony, so nothing lewd could happen, but I was pretty nervous at first. Recently, I’ve gotten much more used to it. That just means we’ve become more of a family. However, Kureha isn’t here right now. In other words, it was just the two of us…
“C-Come on!”
Even as I was lost in my thoughts, Masamune tightly grasped my hand, which allowed me to feel her soft and feminine palm. That soft sensation, the warmth coming from it, and the faint beating of her heart…Damn it, this is more embarrassing than I thought. Since every other treatment was so far over the top, I somehow managed to hide my embarrassment, but since it’s something as simple as that, I can’t help but become aware of her as a girl—the girl I’ve been living together with for a month…
“—!?”
“Stupid chicken, are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah, somewhat…”
That was close, I got too conscious of her, my gynophobia exploded, and I almost blanked out with a nosebleed again. This is tougher than I thought…
“We can stop if it’s too much, you know?”
“N-No need to worry.”
Rather, if I gave up here, I really would be nothing but a chicken bastard. Put up with it, me. That’s right, I’ve been interacting with more girls since the beginning of the second year, so my gynophobia should have started to grow weaker compared to before.
—It’s fine. If I stay calm, I can suppress the symptoms.
“……”
Silence filled the living room. I don’t even know how much time has passed. All I knew was that my heart kept racing because of Masamune’s hand holding mine, but I didn’t have much room to think about that, as I was simply focused on suppressing my gynophobia…Urk, I’m slowly reaching my limit now though…!
“—It’s fine.”
Right as I was starting to break down, I heard a gentle voice from Masamune, one I would have never expected from her.
“I’m with you.”
“…Yeah, thanks.” I responded to her support, and gave her my gratitude.
…I can’t keep losing like this. How pathetic would I be to make a girl worry about me. I should be fine just a bit more…!
“………”
And then, another long silence followed. The silence this time felt much longer.
“…Is this enough?” Masamune said, and suddenly pulled her hand away.
At the same time, I sank down on the floor.
“Wah, what’s wrong!? Are you okay!?”
“I-I’m fine, no worries. I just need a short break, then I’ll be fine.”
“…Really? If you say so…”
Masamune’s expression as she glanced down at me was riddled with anxiety after all. That being said…I feel like that treatment just now worked a whole lot. After all, I got to touch a girl for much longer than usual. The last time I touched a girl that long was probably when I hugged Konoe in front of her mother’s gave—
“—!”
Stop. Don’t remember it. I already got rejected by her, remember? And yet, why is my heart racing when I think about her?
“Hehe, seems like it worked just fine. You were holding my hand for a long time just now.”
Masamune seemingly felt like this treatment was successful, as she puffed out her chest with a smile. I guess this is a good first step. My gynophobia definitely is getting better. That’s why, this should be enough for today—
“Then, let’s move to the second stage.”
“Urk.”
“…Hey, what’s that face for? We finally saw some results, so we should keep the treatment going at this speed, right?” Masamune spoke with a tone like it was obvious.
Hey now, how warm of a sun are you? You’ll burn me to cinders at this rate.
“What do you plan on doing?”
“No worries, I already have a plan in mind.” Masamune puffed out her chest in confidence. “The two of us will be heading out to go shopping now.”
“Shopping?”
“Exactly. I wanted to buy some clothes for the winter, so you’ll tag along. Of course, while we’re holding hands.”
“Huuuuh!?”
“Hmpf, why are you so shocked? We’re just going shopping, that’s all.”
“B-But…”
I mean, heading outside while holding hands is embarrassing, you know? The two of us are often heading out to buy stuff, but in most cases, Kureha is with us. Now, it’s just the two of us. So…isn’t that basically a date?
“D-Don’t give me that. This is all for the sake of curing your gynophobia. I’m just as embarrassed, but it’s part of the treatment program.” She said, her cheeks beet red.
…Well, whatever. It’s been a month since Kureha and I started living here, so we’re pretty much like a family now. Heading out to buy food while holding hands isn’t…
“Then, I’ll go change. You do as well, and we’ll leave in thirty minutes.”
“That’s quite the long wait.”
“Don’t complain, a girl has to prepare herself for this kind of stuff.”
“Yeah yeah, I get it.”
I see no reason why she would have to put this much effort into her clothes. We’re not in a relationship where she has to worry about her hairstyle or perfume. Well, I guess worrying about that just makes her more girlish.
“Did you really? In thirty minutes, we’ll—”
There, a loud sound interrupted Masamune, right as she was about to leave the living room. Ding dong~!
“Geez, who is it at a time like this…” Masamune sounded a bit agitated, as she left the living room and headed over to the entrance to confirm who the visitor was using the small monitor next to the door.
…I wonder? Masamune doesn’t have any friends, and she didn’t mention anybody coming over. Maybe it’s just another salesman? Or maybe Kureha forgot something? But, she should have a spare key…Hmm, I have no idea.
“Stupid chicken, come here for a second.”
Her exchange with the visitor must have finished, as Masamune showed her head in the living room. What, is it a visitor for me or something?
“This might be a bit sudden, but we’re having visitors come over right now.”
“Visitors?”
“Yeah. Yesterday, my neighbour Sasaki-san moved out, and somebody else moved in.”
“Oh yeah, I heard some noise coming from there yesterday.”
I have no clue why they suddenly moved, but it probably was rather sudden.
“That person at the door was the caretaker. They told me that my new neighbours will be coming over to visit later.”
“Huh, that’s pretty polite.”
Fairly rare to see that nowadays. Still, they must be pretty rich that they moved into this high-class flat.
“Ah, it seems like they’re here.”
Someone knocked on the door of Masamune’s apartment. Seemed to be the new neighbours she talked about.
“Stupid chicken, you don’t need to meet them.”
“I know that.”
Nobody outside the Suzutsuki Residence’s residents know that we are living together. Of course, the guys from the school don’t. A high school boy and girl living together despite not being an actual family leaves quite the bad impression. The caretaker at least knows, I think, but maybe she’s rather relaxed about this stuff, as she’s letting us do this. Considering all of that, it would probably be best for Masamune to meet those guests herself.
“I’ll be right back, you just wait here.” Masamune said, and closed the door.
Well, staying here and waiting should be easy enough…
“…….”
I just had the sudden urge to peek out of the living room. I mean, how could I not be curious? The people around me were all quite the peculiar folk, so I doubt I’ll be surprised much no matter who it is. The hallway outside the living room leads directly to the front door. As I peeked outside, I saw Masamune just opening the door. Standing beyond that metal door was—
“!?” I froze up in shock.
“…G-Good morning.”
A familiar alto voice reached my ears. Standing outside the door was a handsome boy with a slender body, wearing a butler uniform. That butler’s face was all too familiar to me.
“…Konoe?” I muttered her name.
That’s right, this was Konoe Subaru, who is working as a butler for the Suzutsuki Family.
“S-Subaru-sama?” Masamune was just as shocked, as she opened the door.
…What is going on? Why did Konoe come over to Masamune’s room? Also, the person visiting right now should be Masamune’s new neighbour…
“Good day, Usami-san.”
Next, a dignified voice spoke up. Of course, that voice was all too familiar for me. Behind Konoe stood Suzutsuki Kanade. She was my former master, and greeted Masamune with an expression like this was expected.
“W-Why are you here!?” Masamune screamed.
She’s always been on bad terms with Suzutsuki after all, being a rich lady and a commoner. Because of their difference in standing, Masamune seemingly can see right through all of Suzutuski’s lies, so they’re like mortal enemies. But, why? Why are they here?
“Fufu, don’t get so angry, Usami-asn.”
As Masamune and I were flustered beyond belief, Suzutsuki couldn’t be more relaxed.
“We only came here to introduce ourselves.”
“Eh…”
Masamune must have felt something because of Suzutsuki’s smile, as she froze up. Of course, I was the same. My brain cells stiffened up, and then started working again, like they rebooted…I have a really bad feeling about this. Something terrible is going to happen.
“That’s right, we came to introduce ourselves as your new neighbours.” Suzutsuki grabbed the hem of her skirt, as she showed a polite bow.
And then, she declared without hesitation, as we were still frozen.
“We are Suzutsuki Kanade and Konoe Subaru, who will be your new neighbours starting today. Nice to meet you Usami-san and—Jirou-kun.”
“Here, it’s done, stupid chicken.”
“Ohh, thanks a bunch, Masamune.”
After I gave my proper gratitude, I accepted my breakfast, as well as the miso soup. What use is there to hide this? I was in Usami Masamune’s room. She is a fellow second-year student at Rouran Academy, and a member of the handicrafts club.
Today is the 14th of November, a Sunday. Through various ups and downs, it was decided that me and my little sister Kureha would be living in her apartment, located in a high-class flat, and it’s already been a month since we moved in here.
“Where’s Kureha?”
“Probably still sleeping? She’s got a bad habit of sleeping in, right?”
We sat at a luxurious and large table located in the kitchen. Still wearing her apron, Masamune sat down on a chair facing me.
“Same as always, then. Should we eat before her?”
“Sure, let’s. I’d feel bad waking her up.”
“Guess so. Just wondering though, Masamune.”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“What’s that outfit about?” I said to Masamune.
She’s wearing a swimsuit plus apron combination. In other words, she barely wore anything. Don’t ask me why, but she had put an apron over her orange swimsuit, sitting on the chair like it was totally normal.
“What are you talking about? I’m wearing this to cure your gynophobia of course.”
“That’s quite the aggressive treatment, alright.”
“Living here together with you for one month, I realized. With any half-baked methods, there’s no way we’ll get to cure your gynophobia. That’s why, you also need to get used to looking at women like this.”
“I seriously doubt there will be such a subliminal effect…”
I mean, because Masamune looks like this, I can’t help but become conscious of her as a girl, but…
“What’s that gloomy look for? Does it not look good on me or something?” Masamune stood up, and twirled on the spot once.
……This is bad. This might actually be much more destructive than I initially assumed. A swimsuit apron is no joke. To think she’d pull out the big guns like this. This world is a crazy place.
“But, why did you go for such a maniacal outfit?”
“Eh? You like this sort of stuff, right?”
“I sure don’t.”
“…Stupid chicken, why are you taking my feelings into consideration? We’ve been living together for a full month now, there’s no need to hide it.”
“If anything, you stop acting so kind now!”
Was I the type of character who had such messed up interests!? I mean, if she was wearing a garter belt now, that might have been the best combination possible, but still.
“First up, aren’t you embarrassed looking like that?”
“Not really? Just to let you know, but since we’re living together, this much is normal.”
“Really now…”
“More importantly, haven’t you forgotten something, stupid chicken?”
“Yeah yeah.” I let out a sigh, and faced my food, saying ‘Thanks for the food’.
Today’s menu is steaming hot rice, together with grilled mackerel, giving off a delicious scent, as well as clam miso soup, and natto. Any person with Japanese origin would grin in joy at this course. Ahh, I’m glad I was born in this country. And as I was thinking that, I stuffed my mouth with the food.
“…How is it?” An anxious voice rang out.
I turned towards the source of that voice, and found Masamune giving me a worried gaze. After living together with her for a whole month, so I know just what she wants to hear.
“Yeah, it’s really delicious. Thanks, Masamune.”
“It’s…it’s not like I wanted you to thank me or anything. I just wanted your impressions, as the person who made the food…!” Masamune must have been embarrassed to be praised like that, because she slurped up some miso soup.
Living together with her for such a long time, it’s painfully obvious. She’s actually a bit of a spoiled child. It might be because of her environment, but she’s like a rabbit who likes attention from its owner, and wants to be praised for doing well. When I look at her that way, she sure can be cute.
“Still, I’m glad that we get to live here, you really saved us.” I took out the bones from the fish, as I spoke up.
Until last month, Kureha and I were staying in the residence of Suzutuski Kanade. Since I was treated like a dog at best, and toy at worst, making me feel like I was working for a black company, this kind of lifestyle is like a blessing.
‘—I will have you become my family!’
It’s all thanks to Masamune saying that. Her apartment was way too big for a single high school girl anyway, and Kureha and I could easily inhabit other rooms, so I’m honestly grateful.
“…Yeah. But, I’m also happy.”
I didn’t expect to hear these words from her mouth. It even made me go ‘Eh?’ in shock, as I stared at her.
“I’ve been living here all on my own, so having you two with me is much better. It’s gotten a bit more chaotic for sure, but this isn’t all bad.”
“Masamune…”
“W-What!? Don’t look at me like that! I’m feeling embarrassed enough already!”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. If anything, when I headed to the supermarket yesterday was far more embarrassing.”
“Hm? What happened?”
“You don’t even remember? When we went to buy dinner yesterday, the lady working there teased us with ‘Oh my, oh my, newlyweds?’, right…”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah stop, stupid chicken!”
Masamune finally remembered the scenery I was talking about, and started blushing furiously, flailing her arms up and around. Well, we are living together, so it makes sense that she would get the wrong idea like that.
“………”
Though, it’s just as Masamune said, this sort of thing isn’t bad once in a while. How do I say this, this atmosphere just feels so warm and comfortable. Looking at that detrimental event that happened in October, this is doing wonders. After all, that was my first experience. Now I’m feeling better, and it’s all thanks to Masamune.
“Ah, stupid chicken. You have some rice on your cheek.”
“Eh? Seriously? Where?”
“Ah, stupid, not there. Geez, you’re helpless, I’ll take it off for you.”
“Eh…No, you don’t have to. I mean…”
“You mean?”
“Well…it’s embarrassing.”
“…What are you talking about? Yesterday we…even slept in the same room…”
“……!”
I remembered the scenery from the previous night, and started blushing. To put it simply, it was all Kureha’s fault. She went and rented a DVD at a sale, and that turned out to be a horror movie. Not to mention that it was quite the shocking and maniacal one, so all three of us were shaking in our boots while watching that.
The problem is what happened after that. For some reason, Masamune came to my room once we decided to head to bed. She herself said ‘Y-You’re wrong! The feng shui is telling me that sleeping in this room today will give me better luck!’ or something like that, but she was clearly just too afraid to sleep on her own. Also, I bet she doesn’t even believe in feng shui.
Either way, as I tried to deal with my embarrassment, Masamune slept in the same room as me…Of course, I’m betting my pride as a man on the line, and state that nothing of what you may think of happened. After all, I have my gynophobia.
“……”
But, how do I say this, I think sleeping in the same room was too much after all. That actually makes us seem like newlyweds…
“Come on, I’ll pick it off you.”
“Ah.”
As I was thinking about that, Masamune already grabbed the rice grain from my cheek. She carried the small grain into her own mouth, and…Wait, why is she just eating it?
“W-What? It would be a waste, right?”
“I mean…that doesn’t mean you should just eat it.”
That’s hella embarrassing. Thanks to that, I could feel my face growing even hotter.
“Hey, stupid chicken.” I was trying to cool down a bit, when Masamune muttered with a quiet voice. “…Can I sleep in your room again today?”
“Huh? I don’t mind, but are you still scared or something?”
“S-Shut up, okay! That movie was just…too much. People were dropping like flies.”
“Well yeah, it is a horror movie.”
“Not to mention…sleeping next to you calms me down.”
“………”
Um, Masamune-san, could you not blurt out embarrassing stuff like that? Rather than cooling down a bit, my body is burning up even stronger, it might accelerate global warming.
“……”
Then again, just as she said, something like this isn’t bad in a while. A sweet and comfortable lifestyle, the exact opposite of the chaotic and hellish life at the Suzutsuki Residence. Thinking about it, since I was raised in a house of wrestling maniacs, I probably always wished for this kind of relaxed day to day life. It’s like a dream come true, I’m so happy.
Soon enough winter will come around, and the air will get cold, but I’ll surely survive with the warmth filling this apartment. And in the meantime, I’ll continue to live this dream of me and Usami Masamune living a happy life together—
×
“Wake up already, stupid chicken!” A cold and piercing voice pulled me out of my slumber.
At the same time, a sharp pain assaulted my stomach, making me scream like a cat that just had its tail stepped on, my body folding up into a beautiful V. Indeed, I was woken up by a beautiful axe kick. Damage-wise, it felt like Masamune held back a lot, but it was plenty to wake me up for sure. It was quite the fresh way of waking up, although much more kind compared to Kureha’s way of waking me up.
“…Y-Yo. Morning, Masamune.” I took a deep breath, and finished my greeting.
Checking the time, it was currently half past 7am. Next, I spotted Masamune’s long leg, wrapped in black kneesocks, stepping onto me. Of course, she wasn’t wearing any aggressive swimsuit apron, but normal casual clothes.
“Don’t ‘Morning’ me, okay. You’re honestly awful at getting up in the morning. I don’t blame your little sister for waking you up with wrestling moves.”
“You still don’t need to kick me, right?”
“I didn’t kick you, I was stepping on you.”
“What’s the difference!?”
“I mean, no matter what I said, you wouldn’t wake up. Also, were you having a weird dream by any chance?”
“Eh…”
Huh? I wonder why, I can’t remember anything about that supposed dream. I feel like it was a pretty fulfilling dream, but…
“Well, I can tell it wasn’t anything worthwhile. You were grinning the entire time while you were sleeping.”
“It’s bad taste to stare at other people’s sleeping faces.”
“I…I wasn’t staring at anything! I was just stating what I saw!”
“Really now. More importantly, Masamune.”
“What do you want?”
“Can you take your leg off of me now? From this angle, I can see inside your skirt, which is bad for my hea—Guh!?”
Even though I was trying to be honest and straightforward, Masamune stomped onto my stomach once again. This time, with much more force.
“Dummy! Stupid chicken!” Masamune was fuming with anger, and walked back to the kitchen.
“…Geez.” I let out a sigh, and slipped out of bed to do some stretches.
I am the oldest son of the Sakamachi Family, I won’t break down from something like this. I’ve been through much worse.
“Ah, still…”
I wonder why…this lifestyle, this mood, I’ve fully gotten used to it now. It’s been one month since me and Kureha moved in here with Masamune. It feels weird to think that so much time has passed.
‘—I will have you become my family!’
With these words, Masamune used the master ticket that she got from Derechuki-san, and freed me and Kureha from that hellish place. Still, this is nothing but a fake family. After all…
“I’m still being treated the same way as over there.”
I looked at the sleeping space I just slept on, and let out another sigh. This might just be worse than what I got at the Suzutsuki Residence—Namely, a sleeping bag. You heard me right, I was using the balcony of Masamune’s apartment up on the high-class flat as my sleeping space, snuggling up in a sleeping bag every night. You really never know what will happen in life. I never would have imagined sleeping on the balcony of an apartment. Not to mention…
“This is my room, huh…”
I uttered the same words I voiced when I first laid eyes upon this a month ago—a cardboard box. It was put down in the corner of the balcony, a small residence that mainly consisted of cardboard. Not to mention that there was ‘Stupid Chicken’ written above the entrance, with unbefitting adorable handwriting. Indeed, this cardboard house is my home, and inside of that is the sleeping bag. This seriously is almost like—
“—A small dog pen.” I let out another sigh, and reminisced about the happy dream I had, the sadness and pain stabbing right into my chest as I did so. This is, indeed, reality.
Even if my current place of living changed, my treatment is the same—a dog.
×
“That can’t be helped, you know? After all, I decided to keep you two.”
Inside Masamune’s apartment, the living room to be exact, Masamune munched on a toast, and explained.
“Can you stop saying ‘Keep’? I really feel like an animal here.”
“Why?”
“Why, you ask…”
“I mean, this is my home. Since you two can’t cook, I have to take care of that for you. Not to mention that I do the other housework and laundry…”
“…I’m terribly sorry. It’ll make me feel even more awful, so please stop.”
“Not to mention that you’re forcing me to wash your underwear…”
“Can you not make it sound like I’m some deviant!?”
I’m properly washing my own underwear, right. By hand, not to mention. Over the past month, I’ve started to feel like a survivalist.
“What am I supposed to do? I don’t want to wash your underwear together with my own clothes.”
“Are you an adolescent girl or something?”
“I am, yes, what about it?”
“…Eh, you were?”
“What’s that supposed to mean!?”
“I mean, you feel more like a Mom than—Guho!?”
Masamune’s heel stabbed right into my shin beneath the table.
“What did you just say?”
“I-I’m very sorry…”
“This isn’t something you can just say and apologize later. One more time, and I’ll get rid of your cardboard box house.”
“…Yes, I understand, Masamune-san.” I could only lower my head in defeat.
Just sleeping on the balcony with a sleeping bag is tough. That old fart sure enough went through that himself, but I’m not as tough as him. Well, I know that I was a bit rude back there. After all, Masamune was kind enough to take us in. I’m just sponging off her. Since I’m handing off the monthly living expenses we get from Mom to Masamune, I at least get to keep some pride as a man.
“Also, why am I staying in a cardboard box anyway?”
“You asked me the same question a month ago, right?”
“Indeed, and I’ve been doing that every single day.”
“Then you should know the answer to that already, don’t you? That’s more than enough for your room.”
“…Didn’t you say that we will become your ‘family’? Is this how you treat family?”
“What are you talking about? Pets are family too, right?”
“………”
For some reason, Masamune’s face didn’t seem like she was joking about that. Why are human rights activists not targeting her? Won’t somebody adopt me? I don’t feel welcome here.
“Isn’t it fine? A cardboard house is becoming a trend recently.”
“I feel like a grade school student could come up with a better design for his summer homework.”
“S-Shut up! I’m not some architect! I made something for you, so be thankful!”
“That doesn’t explain why you have to treat me like a pet…”
“It’s fine, this flat allows pets.”
“That’s not the problem here, clearly!”
“Then what’s the problem? You were wearing a dog costume at Suzutsuki Kanade’s place, right? I think this is much better for you.”
“Urk…!”
I can’t argue back. It’s true that this is probably better than when I lived at Suzutsuki’s place. Sleeping on the balcony makes me feel like some plant rather than a pet or human being, but at least I’m not being worked to death. That being said…
“Hey, even if you and Kureha are using a room, there should be another one free for me, right? Can’t you just let me stay inside—”
“Don’t wanna.” She said, clearly denying my hopes and dreams. “Stupid chicken, it’s not that I don’t have any faith in you. However, you’re an adolescent boy, so if I lower my guard once, you might just be tempted into doing something reprehensible.”
“Reprehensible…”
“For example, secretly washing my underwear…”
“So me being a kind and caring husband is not good?”
“Y-Y-You’re not my husband!”
“Why are you desperately denying that?”
“T-That’s…Anyway! You’ll be staying there. I can rest easy since I lock the door at night as well.”
“You’re the only one who’s gonna rest easy.”
Right now things are still fine since it’s November, but once December comes around, I’ll probably freeze to death, you know? I’m already living in a high-rise flat, that kind of death would just be pathetic.
“What? If you have any complaints, why don’t you go back to that residence?”
“……!”
…I can’t. That’s the one thing I can’t do. Because she—Konoe Subaru—is there. She’s the girl I like. Last month, I finally realized my own feelings, and went all out to confess, but I was rejected without mercy. I was rejected with a clean cut. Basically, I’m sitting here with a broken heart.
‘Man up, you pussy’, I can hear a lot of people say, but they just don’t realize what this feels like. Think about my feelings. It’s been one month, and I have yet to get over her. Can someone cast hypnosis on me?
“Not to mention, one month ago, I asked you if you were really fine with coming to my place, right?”
“Yup, and I agreed back then.”
Back in late September, they told us that the rebuilding of our house would take around two months, so I figured that I could leave Masamune’s place right away, but life isn’t as kind as that. Because of the heavy rain in October, the progress of the renovation was pretty much halted, and now it will have to wait until the end of the year. That’s why Kureha and I are still living here.
“…Kureha? Could you grab the milk for me?”
“Y-Yeah. Here, Nii-san.” Kureha sounded conflicted, as she grabbed the milk for me.
It was weird for her to be this silent. For the past month, the little monster of my family has been like this. The reason for that was the wrestling incident on the final day we stayed at the Suzutsuki Residence. I asked her to torment me more because I was just rejected, but that apparently turned into a trauma of hers. She probably thinks I’ve gotten batshit crazy.
Well, I really can’t blame her for that. If I saw someone from my family end up like a psycho, I’d immediately send them to the hospital, or skip directly to the police. Either way, Kureha’s gotten oddly docile as of late. She never even woke me up with her wrestling moves since. Thanks to that, Masamune’s duty now was to wake me up instead. I’m happy that I was freed of the wrestling wakeup, but since this turned into another part of my family life in a different way, I can’t say I’m particularly happy.
“Anyway, it’ll still take time until your house will be rebuilt, right? I’m letting you stay here. You should be thankful that you can stay in such a high-class flat.” The dear apartment owner puffed out her chest.
…Oh yeah, talking about this flat.
“So, Masamune, haven’t things…gotten a bit weird lately?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“I mean…Ever since Kureha and I moved in here, weird things have happened, yeah?”
“Hmm…You’re not wrong, but it really wasn’t that big of a deal, right?”
“……”
No no no, your mental strength is just far greater than ours, but this definitely is a big deal, you hear me? One month ago, when we came here, what first surprised us…was a supernatural phenomenon. Basically, there’s a poltergeist around here. You may wonder why a poor girl like Masamune gets to live in such a high-class flat, but the reason for that is this was an actual haunted apartment, which drastically lowered the rent.
Right from the very day, I understood just why that was the case. Every night I’m plagued by sleep paralysis, I hear some weird rapping sounds, tableware placed somewhere none of us remembered, the TV turning on and off again, and other incidents and phenomena that were awful for my heart. No doubt about it, this place is cursed.
However, all of that stopped not too long ago. Personally speaking, I’m very happy about that, sure, but since it stopped so abruptly, I don’t really know what to feel, and it’s creeping me out more than anything. Just what…
“…Listen, Nii-san.” There, Kureha was the one to open her mouth.
Before, she was terrified just staying in this place. At first, she pretty much slept in Masamune’s room out of fear. That’s right, she‘s absolutely awful with occult stuff. After all, she can’t win against something that doesn’t have a physical body. But, this is rare. I didn’t expect her to bite on this topic she’s bad at.
“Nii-san, can I tell you?”
“Y-Yeah, what’s up?”
“The thing is…I’ve been trying to say this for a long time, but…around three weeks ago, during a certain night…I met them.”
“………”
Immediately after she finished her words, I felt goosebumps all over my body. Who is she talking about? I wanted to ask, but my mouth wouldn’t move. It’s like I had a curse put on me.
“I think it was like 3am? I needed to go to the toilet, so I left the room…and then ran into them.”
“Ran into…What?”
“As I said…them.”
“……”
D-Don’t tell me…is she talking about the Gs that haunt this place? And no, I’m not talking about a G*ndam or something like that. I mean the real GHOSTs.
“I was shocked, you know…”
“W-Well, I’m sure you would be.”
If I ended up in that same situation, I’d be scared to death. Of course, besides the three of us, nobody is supposed to live here.
“She looked like a young woman wearing a white one-piece, with long hair, and she suddenly said ‘Hey, how about we play together?’, and then…”
“……”
“I…I was really scared, so…”
“S-So…?”
Before I realized it, even my voice was shaking. If she’s telling me this, then it can’t be any laughing matter.
“I…I…” Kureha swallowed her breath, and continued. “I…threw her.”
“……”
Alright, stop there, my sister. What the hell did you just say?
“As I said, I reflexively threw her.”
“T-Threw her…”
“Not to mention with a German suplex.”
“The heck are you talking about!?”
“Honestly, it was just in the spur of the movement. If that was a 2v1, I would have thrown the towel.”
“……”
…Scary. Rather than some random ghost, I’m much more terrified because of my little sister who just pulled a German suplex on a G.
“So, this is where it gets important.” Kureha continued.
Eh? We’re not done yet? Did she get possessed after that or something? That would be troublesome, we’d have to call for an exorcist right away…
“After I threw that woman, she slowly stood up…”
“Y-Yeah…”
“And then she looked at me with a super serious face, saying the following—” She looked at me with wide open eyes. “‘Thank you very much, now I can finally move on’.”
“Like hell she did!” I screamed without restraint.
If this was a certain famous baseball manga, I would have flipped over the table without restraint.
“I-I’m not lying! This all happened!”
“Calm down, Kureha. You’re just tired.”
“I’m not tired either!”
“No, you’re probably possessed.”
“Possessed!?”
“Ahh, I’m sorry Mom, I couldn’t protect your daughter…”
“Please stop treating me like I’m dead already!?” Kureha was fuming with anger.
I mean, what kind of development was that supposed to be? She passed on because you German supplex’d her? Sounds like it could be straight out of a manga, but not reality.
“I mean, I thought it was rude to just do that to her right after we met.”
“Rather than rude, if you did that in the middle of town, you’d get arrested.”
“That’s why I decided to listen to Sakamoto-san.”
“Sakamoto who!?”
“Huh? I’m talking about that woman. We introduced ourselves to each other, and she told me her name.”
“Alright, I don’t even know how to react anymore, so can you stop with this episode already!”
Did she actually get possessed or something? Talking with ghosts definitely ain’t normal.
“So then, according to her, she’s pretty exhausted. You know, with the whole economic slump recently.”
“I don’t think ghosts are bothered by that.”
“She said that watching TV all day just made her feel depressed.”
“She’s quite naive, huh…”
“That’s why she decided to pass on. Honestly speaking, she got tired of playing with you, Nii-san.”
“So all these supernatural phenomena around me were just her playing around!?”
I’m going to slaughter you, Sakamoto! No, wait. Sakamoto-san’s already dead. Her main profession is being a ghost after all.
“So then, when I pulled a German suplex on her, she apparently felt satisfied.”
“Why would a ghost feel satisfied after experiencing a German suplex?”
“According to her, she was a professional wrestler. That’s why she wanted to be thrown like that one more time.”
“What an awful lingering regret to have.”
“After I did that, she said ‘I can pass on now, right?’, you know.”
“You already passed on!”
You’re dead! You already passed the goal, with the tape hanging around your waist! You only stayed in this world because you wanted a trigger to pass on, right!?
“She also said ‘I’m sorry that you had to play along with my pranks to pass the time’.”
“Wait, so all those supernatural activities that happened in here…were all her doing? All to pass the time?”
“Sakamoto-san said that she always loved scaring people. That’s why she gave it her best when she became a ghost.”
“Nobody asked her to do that, for Christ’s sake.”
What is she, some comedian who just debuted? She’s working so hard for all the wrong reasons. Think about my feelings, okay.
“Her final words were ‘Thank you, and goodbye’, and then disappeared.”
“She left pretty easily, huh…”
“Ah, actually, I just remembered. She said ‘Thank you, and goodbye…See you in hell, shitty four-eyes’.”
“Was that last remark really necessary, you wench!?”
“Nyahaha. It’s fine, Nii-san, she was probably just joking around. She had a great humour, I could tell.”
“That doesn’t mean she should wish for me to fall down into hell…”
Sakamoto-san, please end up in heaven, so I can meet you again once I pass on as an old man. I’ll give you a nice souvenir.
“Well, this happened about three weeks ago. I have the habit of being half-asleep if I wake up in the middle of the night, so I don’t know if this actually happened or if I was just dreaming. That’s why I never told you about it, but now that I spoke of it, I feel so refreshed~” Kureha showed a joyful grin.
…Please let that be a dream. That’s what I wished from the bottom of my heart. That story just now can’t have happened in reality. I guess she didn’t tell us about it until now because she didn’t want to be thought of as crazy and delusional. That being said, it might just be a pure coincidence, but if all those supernatural phenomena now stop, I’m not complaining, and I’m sure Masamune should also be…
“Uuuu…Goodbye, Sakamoto-san…”
“Why are you crying!?” I threw in a retort.
As large tears came streaming down her cheeks, Masamune muttered to herself. Why is she so sad that Sakamoto-san passed on?
“S-Shut up, I can’t help it.”
“Why…are you so depressed now?”
“I mean, I’m always alone here, so having someone else with me was just so much relief for some reason…”
“………”
I mean, this ‘someone else’ is a ghost. Also, she gets lonely pretty easily, huh? Despite being a nasty rabbit.
“………”
Well, taking the environment she was raised in, I can’t blame her. Before we came here, she’s been living in this high-class flat all by herself. Of course, her family’s circumstances is an easy argument to seal this discussion, but she’s currently in a situation where she’s forced to live away from her parents. That’s why she’s probably lonely all the time. She’s still only a high school student like us. That’s why…us coming here might have been the most convenient move for her.
“Mnn, thanks for the food. Nii-san, I’ll do some practice for my club.” Kureha finished eating her strawberry jam toast, and clapped her hands together.
“Huh? Masamune, you’re not going with her?”
“I’m on break. It’s her personal practice, right? Who would want to practice on a Sunday?”
“Ehh? It’s fun, so just tag along!”
“The only person who would enjoy that kind of practice is the vice prez. Ah, Sakamichi, will you be back by 3pm?”
“Ehmmm…I don’t know? It depends on the practice…”
“I see. There’s a special sale at the supermarket today, so if you can’t make it home by 3pm, I’ll take the stupid chicken with me.”
“Roger, Usamin-senpai.”
“…How many times do I need to tell you not to call me like that…”
“Nyahaha, isn’t it fine? We’re something like a family already. Anyway, I’ll see you later!” She said, and ran out of the living room.
She really does not know how to calm down. Also, what does the handicrafts club do for personal practice?
“Your younger sister sure knows how to cause a ruckus.” Masamune said, while putting away her tableware.
Oh yeah, Kureha’s feeling a bit better now. Maybe she really was feeling better now that she told us about Sakamoto-san? I don’t mind that she’s back in high spirits, but I hope she’s not going to torture me with wrestling moves again.
“Then again, being together with someone like her doesn’t hurt once in a while.”
“Eh?”
As I was lost in my thoughts, Masamune suddenly blurted that out.
“The thing is…since I’m an only child, I always wanted siblings.”
“H-Huh…”
“Wha…what’s wrong!? Why are you giving me such a complicated look!”
“I mean…you want siblings, but you know how she is, right?”
Sakamachi Kureha is far too dangerous. It’d genuinely be better to have her as an endangered animal under the Washington Treaty, and put her into the Ueno Animal Zoo. Since I’ve lived together with her for the past ten years, I can confidently say that she’s like a lion or a Siberian tiger. I never know when she’ll eventually come to bite me.
“But, should be fine if you get used to it, right?”
“You can say that because you never got used as a punching bag for wrestling techniques.”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to tame her if you prepare food for her.”
“See, you’re seeing her as a pet!”
How far is she going to deny Kureha’s human rights? Am I the pet dog, and Kureha the pet cat here? In return for having a place to sleep, we’re being trained by her.
“I’m not planning on making her my pet or anything.”
“Then why would you make it sound that way?”
“That’s because…Calling you like a family face to face is embarrassing…” She muttered towards the end, as her cheeks were red.
Family, huh…It is pretty embarrassing, but looking at our current relationship, that term might be the closest…Kureha, Masamune, and I are living under the same roof. At first, I needed to get used to it a bit, but it’s already been a month. Humans really can get used to everything out there, and I’m sure Masamune must be the same. She’s gotten used to Kureha a lot. I could see them as sisters even. Honestly speaking, it was something I would have never imagined to see from her.
—After all, she was unable to put faith into people. Raised in a complicated family environment, she became unable to trust people. Even now, she’s slowly opening up her heart to Kureha. Well, I bet that Kureha’s personality did a lot to help with that. She’s open with anybody, and is bad at lying. That’s why this current relationship isn’t too bad. She always wanted a family after all. At the same time, Kureha and I were looking for a place to live.
Us living together is probably the smoothest way to resolve all of these problems. It’s like we’re granting each other’s desires. The reason Masamune uses the word ‘Pet’ is because she’s embarrassed, I bet.
“……”
And, I might have used this new lifestyle in order to forget about the incident with Konoe—my broken heart. Even now, I can vividly remember the scenery from back then. At the night parade, upon hearing my confession, Konoe bluntly rejected me…
“……”
Oh yeah, we didn’t really talk ever since back then. We said that we’d stay as best friends, but it’s been awkward since. That’s why I don’t really know what to do. Because I haven’t talked with her as a friend for such a long time, I’m still not over her.
“—!”
No, maybe it’s just that I don’t want to get over her? I mean, it’s been a whole month since I was rejected, and yet—
“Now that breakfast is over, how about we start?”
A voice called out to me, I finally returned to reality. Standing there was Masamune, who had finished cleaning up even my own tableware. She wore a small pink t-shirt, together with a white shirt, and black knee socks. It looked like she was pretty conscious of her own appearance even at home. On the contrary, Kureha wore pretty loose clothes. It was always jerseys or pajamas.
“Also, what are we starting?” I asked, confused.
Today is Sunday. To us high school students, this should be a day of rest. So, why does she make it sound like we have some important plans today…
“…Are you still half asleep or something?” Masamune complained. “We’re going to fix your gynophobia of course.”
“……”
…That’s right. I completely forgot about that. Maybe I am still half asleep. Over this past month, as I was living here at Masamune’s home, she’s been doing some spartan attempts at curing my gynophobia. Since those days were far too stimulating and traumatising for me, I’d rather not go into detail here, but I probably suffered from a nosebleed and passed out as many times as there are stars in the sky. I’m a bit exhausted, if you catch my drift.
“Come on, don’t look so bothered just by the idea of it. You want to get rid of your gynophobia, right?”
“Urk…I sure do, but…”
“Then you should be thankful, I’m going to help you with my own body.”
“Yeah, I guess…But, aren’t you getting a bit too into it?”
I mean, she sure seems dead-set on curing my gynophobia. Is there any reason why she’s this desperate?
“I-I’m not getting into it at all…It’s just…”
“It’s just?”
“A-As friends…I’m thinking that it would be good for you if you got rid of your gynophobia, so that you can experience love with a girl…”
For some reason, she started fumbling over her own words towards the end. Well, I can see that she’s serious about wanting to help me, even if her methods are a bit too extreme. But, that’s just fine. Ever since I left the Suzutsuki Residence, I haven’t met Suzutsuki either. We would run into each other at school, but not talk much. It’s almost like she’s avoiding me. On top of that, the relationship between Konoe and Suzutsuki started looking a bit awkward lately.
“Then, let’s start. Don’t worry, I came up with a proper method today.”
“Urk…”
Hearing these words from Masamune sounded like a death sentence to me. Please, don’t. All the methods she could come up with are pure torture to me. It’s like shock treatment.
“Hehe, it’s fine.”
However, to my surprise, Masamune said the following.
“Today’s method is a bit more docile.”
“Eh?”
“I realized, you know. There’s a fairy tale called ‘The North Wind and The Sun’, right?”
“North wind and the sun?”
Is that the one where the North wind and sun see who can make the traveller take off his clothes faster? The North wind immediately goes on the aggressive, trying to forcefully blow off the traveler’s clothes, but that doesn’t work out. The winner was the sun, who slowly warmed up the traveler to the point he would take off his clothes.
“Basically, it’s the same as that.”
“You’ll try to make me take off my clothes?”
“D-D-D-Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Then what else are you planning?”
“You still don’t get it? Basically, I’ve been acting like the North wind so far. I was too forceful in trying to make you get over your gynophobia. However, I’ll change my approach now, and take it slow.”
“Take it slow…”
I have no idea what she’s talking about. I just hope it’s a warm and cozy method like the sun.
“By the way, if this method doesn’t work, I’m going back to North wind mode.”
“Huuuh!?”
“Isn’t that obvious? I don’t like spoiling others, so take today as a special service. If this doesn’t show any results, I’m going back to the spartan treatment.”
“………” I felt a cold sweat run down my back.
Waaaah, she’s putting so much pressure on me. She’s like scorching sunshine right now. Also, can a nasty rabbit like her even do some warm and cozy method?
“Alright, stand up.”
I felt anxious, as I stood up from my seat. This was her home, I had no right to disagree.
“Don’t move, okay?”
She said, and lined up next to me. We basically stood shoulder to shoulder.
“Alright, preparations are complete.”
“? Preparations?”
“Eh…t-that’s…”
“Also, can’t you tell me the method you came up with already?”
I want to at least mentally prepare myself. No clue what’s happening after all.
“Urk…O-Okay then…” For some reason, Masamune started blushing. “The two of us…will hold hands!”
“…What?”
For a second, I blanked out. I mean, compared to every other method Masamune came up with, holding hands was pretty tame. But…I wonder why. Because it’s so simple, and straightforward, I feel much more embarrassed.
“….!”
Ba-dump! I suddenly grew conscious of Masamune, as my heart skipped a beat. That’s right, I’ve gotten used to it quite a bit over the past month, but…I still am living in a girl’s room. I’m living with her. Of course, Kureha is living with us as well, and my room is a cardboard box on the balcony, so nothing lewd could happen, but I was pretty nervous at first. Recently, I’ve gotten much more used to it. That just means we’ve become more of a family. However, Kureha isn’t here right now. In other words, it was just the two of us…
“C-Come on!”
Even as I was lost in my thoughts, Masamune tightly grasped my hand, which allowed me to feel her soft and feminine palm. That soft sensation, the warmth coming from it, and the faint beating of her heart…Damn it, this is more embarrassing than I thought. Since every other treatment was so far over the top, I somehow managed to hide my embarrassment, but since it’s something as simple as that, I can’t help but become aware of her as a girl—the girl I’ve been living together with for a month…
“—!?”
“Stupid chicken, are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah, somewhat…”
That was close, I got too conscious of her, my gynophobia exploded, and I almost blanked out with a nosebleed again. This is tougher than I thought…
“We can stop if it’s too much, you know?”
“N-No need to worry.”
Rather, if I gave up here, I really would be nothing but a chicken bastard. Put up with it, me. That’s right, I’ve been interacting with more girls since the beginning of the second year, so my gynophobia should have started to grow weaker compared to before.
—It’s fine. If I stay calm, I can suppress the symptoms.
“……”
Silence filled the living room. I don’t even know how much time has passed. All I knew was that my heart kept racing because of Masamune’s hand holding mine, but I didn’t have much room to think about that, as I was simply focused on suppressing my gynophobia…Urk, I’m slowly reaching my limit now though…!
“—It’s fine.”
Right as I was starting to break down, I heard a gentle voice from Masamune, one I would have never expected from her.
“I’m with you.”
“…Yeah, thanks.” I responded to her support, and gave her my gratitude.
…I can’t keep losing like this. How pathetic would I be to make a girl worry about me. I should be fine just a bit more…!
“………”
And then, another long silence followed. The silence this time felt much longer.
“…Is this enough?” Masamune said, and suddenly pulled her hand away.
At the same time, I sank down on the floor.
“Wah, what’s wrong!? Are you okay!?”
“I-I’m fine, no worries. I just need a short break, then I’ll be fine.”
“…Really? If you say so…”
Masamune’s expression as she glanced down at me was riddled with anxiety after all. That being said…I feel like that treatment just now worked a whole lot. After all, I got to touch a girl for much longer than usual. The last time I touched a girl that long was probably when I hugged Konoe in front of her mother’s gave—
“—!”
Stop. Don’t remember it. I already got rejected by her, remember? And yet, why is my heart racing when I think about her?
“Hehe, seems like it worked just fine. You were holding my hand for a long time just now.”
Masamune seemingly felt like this treatment was successful, as she puffed out her chest with a smile. I guess this is a good first step. My gynophobia definitely is getting better. That’s why, this should be enough for today—
“Then, let’s move to the second stage.”
“Urk.”
“…Hey, what’s that face for? We finally saw some results, so we should keep the treatment going at this speed, right?” Masamune spoke with a tone like it was obvious.
Hey now, how warm of a sun are you? You’ll burn me to cinders at this rate.
“What do you plan on doing?”
“No worries, I already have a plan in mind.” Masamune puffed out her chest in confidence. “The two of us will be heading out to go shopping now.”
“Shopping?”
“Exactly. I wanted to buy some clothes for the winter, so you’ll tag along. Of course, while we’re holding hands.”
“Huuuuh!?”
“Hmpf, why are you so shocked? We’re just going shopping, that’s all.”
“B-But…”
I mean, heading outside while holding hands is embarrassing, you know? The two of us are often heading out to buy stuff, but in most cases, Kureha is with us. Now, it’s just the two of us. So…isn’t that basically a date?
“D-Don’t give me that. This is all for the sake of curing your gynophobia. I’m just as embarrassed, but it’s part of the treatment program.” She said, her cheeks beet red.
…Well, whatever. It’s been a month since Kureha and I started living here, so we’re pretty much like a family now. Heading out to buy food while holding hands isn’t…
“Then, I’ll go change. You do as well, and we’ll leave in thirty minutes.”
“That’s quite the long wait.”
“Don’t complain, a girl has to prepare herself for this kind of stuff.”
“Yeah yeah, I get it.”
I see no reason why she would have to put this much effort into her clothes. We’re not in a relationship where she has to worry about her hairstyle or perfume. Well, I guess worrying about that just makes her more girlish.
“Did you really? In thirty minutes, we’ll—”
There, a loud sound interrupted Masamune, right as she was about to leave the living room. Ding dong~!
“Geez, who is it at a time like this…” Masamune sounded a bit agitated, as she left the living room and headed over to the entrance to confirm who the visitor was using the small monitor next to the door.
…I wonder? Masamune doesn’t have any friends, and she didn’t mention anybody coming over. Maybe it’s just another salesman? Or maybe Kureha forgot something? But, she should have a spare key…Hmm, I have no idea.
“Stupid chicken, come here for a second.”
Her exchange with the visitor must have finished, as Masamune showed her head in the living room. What, is it a visitor for me or something?
“This might be a bit sudden, but we’re having visitors come over right now.”
“Visitors?”
“Yeah. Yesterday, my neighbour Sasaki-san moved out, and somebody else moved in.”
“Oh yeah, I heard some noise coming from there yesterday.”
I have no clue why they suddenly moved, but it probably was rather sudden.
“That person at the door was the caretaker. They told me that my new neighbours will be coming over to visit later.”
“Huh, that’s pretty polite.”
Fairly rare to see that nowadays. Still, they must be pretty rich that they moved into this high-class flat.
“Ah, it seems like they’re here.”
Someone knocked on the door of Masamune’s apartment. Seemed to be the new neighbours she talked about.
“Stupid chicken, you don’t need to meet them.”
“I know that.”
Nobody outside the Suzutsuki Residence’s residents know that we are living together. Of course, the guys from the school don’t. A high school boy and girl living together despite not being an actual family leaves quite the bad impression. The caretaker at least knows, I think, but maybe she’s rather relaxed about this stuff, as she’s letting us do this. Considering all of that, it would probably be best for Masamune to meet those guests herself.
“I’ll be right back, you just wait here.” Masamune said, and closed the door.
Well, staying here and waiting should be easy enough…
“…….”
I just had the sudden urge to peek out of the living room. I mean, how could I not be curious? The people around me were all quite the peculiar folk, so I doubt I’ll be surprised much no matter who it is. The hallway outside the living room leads directly to the front door. As I peeked outside, I saw Masamune just opening the door. Standing beyond that metal door was—
“!?” I froze up in shock.
“…G-Good morning.”
A familiar alto voice reached my ears. Standing outside the door was a handsome boy with a slender body, wearing a butler uniform. That butler’s face was all too familiar to me.
“…Konoe?” I muttered her name.
That’s right, this was Konoe Subaru, who is working as a butler for the Suzutsuki Family.
“S-Subaru-sama?” Masamune was just as shocked, as she opened the door.
…What is going on? Why did Konoe come over to Masamune’s room? Also, the person visiting right now should be Masamune’s new neighbour…
“Good day, Usami-san.”
Next, a dignified voice spoke up. Of course, that voice was all too familiar for me. Behind Konoe stood Suzutsuki Kanade. She was my former master, and greeted Masamune with an expression like this was expected.
“W-Why are you here!?” Masamune screamed.
She’s always been on bad terms with Suzutsuki after all, being a rich lady and a commoner. Because of their difference in standing, Masamune seemingly can see right through all of Suzutuski’s lies, so they’re like mortal enemies. But, why? Why are they here?
“Fufu, don’t get so angry, Usami-asn.”
As Masamune and I were flustered beyond belief, Suzutsuki couldn’t be more relaxed.
“We only came here to introduce ourselves.”
“Eh…”
Masamune must have felt something because of Suzutsuki’s smile, as she froze up. Of course, I was the same. My brain cells stiffened up, and then started working again, like they rebooted…I have a really bad feeling about this. Something terrible is going to happen.
“That’s right, we came to introduce ourselves as your new neighbours.” Suzutsuki grabbed the hem of her skirt, as she showed a polite bow.
And then, she declared without hesitation, as we were still frozen.
“We are Suzutsuki Kanade and Konoe Subaru, who will be your new neighbours starting today. Nice to meet you Usami-san and—Jirou-kun.”
RECENTLY UPDATES
Action
Action
Eastern
Contemporary Romance
Action
Action
Contemporary Romance
Eastern