Chapter 13: Loathing

“Wow! Isn’t it nice here? It’s much more organized than my place.”

Yaguchi-san said in excitement as he entered.

“He must be a very diligent man.”

When Yaguchi-san said that, I replied indifferently.

“I do all the housework.”

“Housework? You’re the one doing it all, Miyuki-chan?”

“That’s right.”

Yaguchi-san looked puzzled. He blinked a few times and then suddenly shouted.

“He’s making a high school girl do all the housework! What a weird person!”

Yaguchi-san was giggling as he said that.

“..He’s not really weird.”

“No, he’s definitely weird. Why won’t he just do all the housework himself?”

Yaguchi-san then sat down on Yoshida-san’s bed without asking for permission.

Although he said those things, Yaguchi-san barely cares about his housework. While it seemed feasible to be able to do the housework even if you had to work, for some reason I felt annoyed.

“You do everything? Cooking, laundry, cleaning, all of that?”

“That’s right.”

“Haha, how interesting!”

Yaguchi-san shook his shoulders and laughed briefly, then patted the space beside him with his hand.

“Don’t just stand there, Miyuki-chan. Why don’t you sit down?”

I nodded and sat down on the floor in front of him, knowing that he wanted me to sit beside him. Yaguchi-san’s lips twitched in frustration, but he didn’t insist that she sat next to him.

“..So this is where Miyuki-chan lives now, huh?”

“..”

Yaguchi-san looked around the room.

“Kind of cramped.”

“..That’s because it’s not meant for two people.”

“You knew that already, yet you’re still staying here. You have a lot of guts, Miyuki-chan.”

Yaguchi-san said that and then chuckled. I know he was being sarcastic.

“How long have you been here?”

“Roughly two months.”

“Two months?!”

Yaguchi-san shouted out. For the first time since I met him, I saw something other than a smile on his face.

“Huh? He’s been letting you stay here for two months?”

“That’s right..”

“So you’ve been doing the housework?”

“Yes, I do.”

“What else?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?!”

Yaguchi-san shouted out again.

He paused for a few seconds with his mouth open and then sighed. After scratching his head, he spoke as if he were talking to himself.

“That’s some kind of perversion..”

“Huh?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Yaguchi-san smiled and bowed his head.

“I’m going to ask you straight out, have you ever had sex with this person?”

“..Ugh!”

The topic was so sudden that my breath was mixed with saliva. The saliva got into my trachea and I choked for a while.

“A-are you okay? Was it such a surprise?”

“That’s..”

I cleared my throat and raised my head. My eyes met Yaguchi-san’s, who had a really strange look on his face.

“He picked up a high school girl and has been living with her for two months now, right?”

“..Well.”

“Wouldn’t it be weird if you went that far and never had sex? After all, he’s a man. I’d understand if you were ugly as hell, but even without me saying as much, you’re a really pretty girl.”

I was dumbfounded by Yaguchi-san’s ability to talk about outrageous things without hesitation. However, I could not help but understand what he was saying. I had thought so at first, too.

“..Oh, I see.”

Yaguchi-san scratched his head again and then sighed. He looked into my eyes and then spoke clearly.

“So it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”

“Huh?”

“You haven’t been having any sex, right?”

“Huh? Um..”

“It’s the same for me. I broke up with all my girlfriends and came here.”

Yaguchi-san got up from the bed and sat down beside me as if it was something natural. I tried to move away from him as quickly as I could, but he immediately grabbed my shoulder.

“U-Um.. I thought we’re just going to talk.”

“Well, that was the plan, but being under the same roof with a pretty girl is hard to resist in many ways.”

“That’s.. ugh.”

No matter how much strength I used to reject him, the force of Yaguchi-san’s grip on my shoulder was much stronger. I couldn’t move. I stared at Yaguchi-san in disgust, but his face was closer to mine than I expected, and I flinched. Yaguchi-san continued to speak with a gentle smile on his face.

“You don’t have to look so scared of me. We did it every day when you were at my place. Don’t you like it? Sex?”

“That’s the problem..”

Without listening to what I was saying, Yaguchi-san’s face approached mine. As soon as I knew that he was going to try to kiss me, I got goosebumps all over my body.

“..Eek!”

Just before Yaguchi-san’s lips were about to touch mine, I shook my head as hard as I could. With a loud thud, our foreheads hit each other.

“Ouch!”

Yaguchi-san’s right hand weakened and I escaped from his restraints, backing away to the wall. He rubbed his head and looked at me with a surprised look on his face.

“How awful.. So that’s how much you don’t want to do it with me?”

“Haa, haa..”

I tried to say something back, but my shoulders just went up and down with my uncontrolled breathing. I couldn’t tell if it was anger or fear, but my lips were trembling and my chest boiling.

“I can understand if you viscerally hate it, but at least don’t look at me like that. You did it with me before and it went without a hitch. But now, you hate it this much.”

As he said that, I instinctively pushed my back against the wall and kicked the floor with my foot, even though I couldn’t move back any further.

“That’s fine. It’s not like it’s a big deal.”

“No..”

“It won’t hurt at all. You’ll be fine.”

“..Get away from me!”

Without thinking, I shouted. My throat hurt and my body was hot. My skin felt strange. Even though I have slept with him before. My whole body was rejecting him.

Ah.. why did I let this man into the house? Was it so I wouldn’t lose my relationship with Asami? Or was it to prevent the manager from finding out the truth?

As I thought about it, Yoshida-san’s face popped into my mind. That’s right. Yoshida-san. I didn’t want to cause any trouble for him, that’s why I brought Yaguchi-san here. The goosebumps I felt all over my body intensified.

If I accept this person now and get it over without making any fuss, things would work out without causing any trouble for Yoshida-san. If I reject him, he’ll get angry and I don’t know how things will turn out.

I pressed my body against the wall and curled up. As I slowly let my guard down, I looked at Yaguchi -san. My mouth was dry.

“..Okay.”

“Huh?”

There was no way that Yaguchi-san could hear my voice as I squeezed it out of my throat, so he tilted his head. Ignoring the pain in my stomach, I took a deep breath and spoke again.

“So.. I’m saying it’s okay-—“

A clattering sound from the front door interrupted what I was saying. Both Yaguchi-san and I naturally turned our gazes in the direction of the sound. The door opened violently, and?he?entered..

“Oh..”

A muffled breath, like a sob, escaped from the back of my throat.

“Sayu!!!”

Yoshida-san was standing in the doorway, breathing hard.