Vol 1 Chapter 7 (1/2)
Chapter 7
For Roana, everyday was dull Very dull
Moreover, Roana realized that her sole support, Eason, had only brought her there under the context of 'investigation'
He didn't show any traces of love or affection towards her
In his quest to satisfy his curiosity, Eason asked her all sorts of questions and performed detailed checks on her body
Despite her disappoint Eason's side ”This is fine,” she thought to herself So long as she can 'satisfy' Eason - even if there was neither love nor lust - there would bearound
Therefore, she could hold on even if other people showered her with curious looks or disdainful laughter
Although she was cooped up in a small house, it was the world to her
Nishi+zono Yūko
<ro=”” world=””>
It was Saturday Aru by cleaning up the house and cooking Not only that, when I walked into the living room half-awake in my pajamas due to all racket—
”Eita! How long are you planning to keep those clothes on!? That won't do! You have to dress better!”
She ended up scolding me shi+nonome will arrive in the afternoon, so there's still plenty of time However, Arumi-san refused all of my protests and shoved me into the bathroom
”Get yourself cleaned up! What about your clothes? Have you decided on what to wear? Is everything alright?”
I've got to hand it to Arumi-san
”Normal clothes should do just fine, Arumi-san It's not like this is a special occasion”
Although I said that, Arumi-san stubbornly rejected my views all the same
”Of course it is! Eita's bringing his girlfriend ho all excited!”
I heaved a deep sigh I did ot it into her head that shi+nonoirlfriendI had no opportunity to rebut her At the very least, I should remind her not to harass shi+nonoht if she doesn't calm herself down first
Aru my face Then her cross-hairs turned towards Keisuke She shouted towards the second floor
”Keisuke! It's about time you wake up as well!”
She wasn't relaxed at all Just this once, I felt nothing but pity towards Keisuke — as someone who normally sleeps into the afternoon, itlike this
When I returned to the living rooe of clothes, Aru I took a quick peek out of curiosity, and realized i beef stew Compared to her usual dishes, the vast difference in this stew's s it last night
”I've been stewing this for eight hours since yesterday”
Said Aru closer, I could see dark circles beneath her eyes It did seeht without sleep I couldn't help but shrug in exasperation at how crazy that was
”Ah, is she okay with meat?”
Asked Arumi-san worriedly all of a sudden
”No problem, she's not—”
That hen
I realized I never once had lunch or dinner with shi+nonome The movie was in the afternoon and we parted before dinner We did eat together ere at the theme park, but those were just sandwiches without meat in them
The possibility of shi+nonoabout things like that now
”Oh right, when are you planning to serve that?”
Before I knew it, it was my turn to pose the questions to Arumi-san Arumi-san replied with a perplexed expression on her face,
”Eh? Dinner Why did you ask?”
shi+nono in the afternoon Still, it will be at least four hours till dinner-time, and that is a very optimistic estimation
”Are we having dinner together?”
”Why the averse expression?”
With absolutely nothing at home, how on earth am I supposed to spend four hours with shi+nonome? Should we kill ti a gainal plan was to chat with her about trivialities for an hour or two before sending her ho so assurees to it anyway
”Nah, it's nothing”
To be honest, just thinking about what's about to happen is depressing enough As I sat on the sofa in the living room just about to switch on the television, Arumi-san turned her attention to the situation on the second floor
”Sorry to trouble you, Eita, but please wake Keisuke up I went to his room earlier, but he just refused to wake up”
Keisuke's weekly routine involves hi weekends, so it's possible that he's only slept three or four hours right now It's just cruel to wake him up
”He'll wake up pretty soon, I think? It's not like it matters if he continues to sleep”
Knowing very well that Keisuke's hard to deal hen he wakes up, I came up with an excuse in my attempt to tactfully avoid the task, but Arumi-san had a different plan in mind
”That won't do! Keisuke will space out for two full hours after waking up! It would be rude to your girlfriend if he doesn't act properly”
”Eh?”
”Keisuke and I are your acting guardians since your parents aren't around! We will have to present ourselves properly! Now, get going!”
Seeingly and walked to the second floor
There was no response from the room when I rapped the door When I opened the door carefully, it was just as I expected — Keisuke was in bed, curled up in his blanket
”Aruet up already”
I shook his body in an atte up This is creating a lot of pressure onroo
With no other option in hand, I decided to kill tian searching through a pile of books, and in it was the <yotaka> raphed There were azines stacked on top of it As I carefully flipped through the books located belohile trying my best not to topple the stack, I found a few copies of <yotaka> which were dated earlier than the one I borrowed before
I began browsing through the covers, my eyes focused squarely on the names and the contents Only the ones with shi+nonoht the stack of an reading the oldest voluazine featured shi+nonome's debut work, <the distressed=”” eyes=”” of=”” sanni=”” yaka=””>
Yet another story which I fail to comprehend
Just like the other stories shi+nonome wrote, it wasn't set in the modern day world Do you classify this as science fiction or fantasy? The story wasn't classified as it was published in a literary enres
In the next story and the one after that, everything was the same All stories were set in fictitious worlds None of the of terms like japan or America
While reading the what shi+nonome had said
One requires the necessary knowledge or experience to write a long story Knowing very hat her weaknesses were, she ended up writing about fictitious worlds instead
The other similarity in her stories was that there were no elements of romance Even when there was a male and female character, no love blossomed between the two All the casts portrayed their role mechanically — at least that's what it felt like for me However, since her stories weren't based on the world we live in, one can probably interpret it as 'that's probably the kind of at to portray'
With that interpretation in mind, shi+nonoard However, as soe
Just as I finished with all the azines I picked out (or more specifically, shi+nonome's stories inside them), Keisuke's body stirred a on his body, Keisuke seelasses fro them on clumsily He then finally turned to look at me
” What are you doing?”
I shut the azine
”Arumi-san askedShe'd chase ain if I returned downstairs alone”
” Right”
Keisuke coot off his bed with an irritated look on his face Nothing was said when he saw the ; he walked out of his roo all relieved for finally accoazines back onto the pile and left his room
Back in e from shi+nonome on my cellphone
”Morning Is it okay to arrive at two in the afternoon? A your family?”
”Nope, not a probleet on train, okay? I'll pick you up at the station”
”Understood Let's keep in contact”
I told her the station closest tolines, and it will alsolost Nevertheless, I kept the cellphone inrooency
Keisuke was reading the newspaper with a cigarette in his mouth, his bed hair still messy and untouched Arue my clothes, but she was silent when it ca breakfast in the kitchen Perhaps she knew fro from Keisuke when he had just woken up She will probably leave him as is for about two hours
The only thing left is a quick breakfast before contacting shi+nono about such things, I suddenly noticed
”Ah”
Keisuke shot a quick glance atand returned to his newspaper Perhaps it was because his brain wasn't functioning at full capacity yet Thankfully, he didn't ask me what that was for
As I was standing up, Arumi-san asked from the kitchen,
”Where are you going, Eita? Breakfast is ready”
”I'll be back in a jiffy I have a call to make”
With that said, Iout my phone I found shi+nonome's number in my contacts list and pressed the dial button
About three rings later, shi+nonoh
” hello?”
”Ah, sorry for the sudden call I would like to speak to you”
”Regarding?”
”You're coht? Due to various reasons, the situation has so my house”
There was no response from shi+nonome when she heard that statement Only silence
”Our relationshi+p is pretty co even when they hear our explanation Therefore, I'd be really grateful if you can cooperate with irlfriend”
shi+nonome was still silent Given how early it was, perhaps she's still not fully awake? It kind of feels like shi+nonome is someone who suffers from low blood pressure, so she may very well be si He will hardly respond to a conversation
”My brother's girlfriend is a little you know Sheyou endlessly, so can you please put up with her? I'll do my best to save you in that situation”
shi+nonome finally replied with a tiny voice,
” Mot it”
Her voice was monotonous, as usual — perhaps she did just wake up If that's the case, I should hang up since I' I wanted to say—
”Well then, see you later”
Just as I was about to disconnect the call, I directed a sudden question towards shi+nonome
”Oh right, shi+nonome Do you eat beef stew?”
” Beef stew?”
”Right My brother's girlfriend stayed up all night preparing it for our dinner So if you're fine with it and if time allohy don't you join us for dinner?”
”Well Mmm, I'm fine with that Thank you”
”Nah, it's not like I did anything”
”Well then, see you later”
”Mmm”
When the sound of the disconnected tone cah of relief as if I had just completed some major work Oh boy, this is quite a bit of stress for me The root of all my problems lies in the fact that they fail to understand our relationshi+p It would have been easier for irlfriend
There was a sense of disappointht came to my mind
Although I want it to happen, it never will
On the other side of the door was the 'slightly you know' Aru me out Seems like breakfast was ready
I heaved yet another sigh and walked out of the room
Time ticked by once breakfast was over
Keisuke did just as Aru up, he finally coed his clothes to show himself in a 'presentable'the floor in onethe condition of the stew in another Only when she was finally done with everything did she sit leisurely on the sofa to watch television
”Let's have a simple lunch, shall we? I'd prefer if we can have our dinner early”
We went along with Aruestion and had udon for lunch After that, just as I was about to look for e came
”I am on the train now I should be there in about thirty minutes”
I stood up after reading her text Arumi-san turned her head immediately
”Ah! Is she on her way? Are you picking her up?”
”Ah Urm, yeah”
”Got it! I'll prepare some tea!”
With that, Aruain As for Keisuke, he continued reading
The sun was shi+ning brightly, the teh that I broke into sweat I stayed in the shade asto the station It takes fifteen , so it should end up withfor her for a while
Upon reaching the station, I leaned ates The train froht at the exact saates, I scanned the passengers ere getting off the train, but couldn't see shi+nono from the time, shi+nonome's train should be the next one, so I continued to space out
Ten minutes later, another train arrived However, shi+nonome was still nowhere to be seen Bewildered, I checked the time on my cellphone It's precisely thirty minutes after her text, while the next train will be here in ten minutes
shi+nonome was never late In fact, she would always arrive early I was a little worried
Could so have happened to her? And then—
”Did she return home already”
A e her ? Could she have ditched me for a reason like that? I couldn't help but to think about stuff like that
If that was the case, the norm should be to contact the other person However, we're talking about shi+nonome here I could sort of understand whatever course of action she chooses to take
”You haven't arrived yet?”
I was planning to send that htly to press her like that She did text ”in about thirtyto say, there's so I hope
I didn't want to irritate her by losingher
To be honest, I don't want shi+nonome to dislike me I doubt she likes et into her bad books
My only option was to wait for shi+nono
While thinking about stuff like that, a train arrived at the opposite platform I never paid any special attention to it since I wasn't expecting shi+nonome to come from that direction
But I rong shi+nono off that train She was at the rear of the pack when she stepped out, but quite unexpectedly, she walked hastily to the front and out of the ticketing gates I was honestly surprised
”I was expecting you to take the train from the opposite direction”
I remarked as shi+nonome walked towards me She turned around to take a look at the platforetically
”I ”
”Ah, I see”
”Sorry for being late”
”Nah, it's okay I didn't wait for too long”
That was my answer so as not to let her realize how uneasy I was feeling due to her being late
The two of us began walking hoh I chose to stay in the shade as much as I could, sweat still poured from my temple due to the heat, which I wiped off with my hand Worried about the smell of sweat, I chose to keep my distance away from shi+nonome
On the other hand, shi+nonoan (the one she usually wears) while I earing just a T-shi+rt, there was not a drop of sweat on her body
”You don't sweat?”
Come to think of it, I seldom see shi+nonome sweat, so I popped the question as alked
”Eh? Why the sudden question?”