“F-for now... Ak-kun, why don’t you go take a bath?”
“Mm. Right. I’ll do that.”
Even though I told Kanade I would host her tonight, I decided to follow her advice and finish the preparations for sleeping first.
“Well then, I’m heading to the bath.”
“Okay.”
Leaving Kanade in my room, I headed toward the bathroom for a moment.
“...I’ll be waiting, Ak-kun.”
As I left, I thought I heard Kanade’s fleeting voice, but was it just my imagination?
Regardless, I went to the bathroom and took a shower.
The season was summer.
Having spent the day in high humidity and high temperatures, my body had accumulated a disgusting amount of sweat. Washing it all off with a shower felt quite good.
“Whew...”
While wiping myself with a bath towel, I thought about Kanade, who was waiting in my room.
...Now that I think about it, why did Kanade end up staying at my house today?
She said she asked Mom because she wanted to focus on her studies... but for someone who said that, she was trying to get in the way of my studying at first.
She did concentrate well after we were halfway through today, though...
She prioritized preparing dinner over studying, and prioritized chatting with Mom...
I really don’t feel the intention of ‘wanting to focus on studying’ from today’s Kanade at all.
Then... why did Kanade stay at my house today?
The only answer I can think of is...
She got so absorbed in chatting with Mom that she missed her chance to go home!
Good grief.
Kanade still has a bit of a ditzy side to her, as always.
Honestly, really.
...When I heard Kanade would be staying over, I was a little bewildered.
Since I had no experience with a girl my age staying over, I felt nervous.
However, I didn’t feel any dislike toward Kanade staying over itself. If anything, I even felt a little bit of happiness.
When I heard she’d be sleeping in my room, I felt a bit of tension, but no revulsion.
If anything, I even felt a little bit of happiness.
However, I simply couldn’t bear the thought of Kanade sleeping on a futon laid out on the flooring.
Kanade has a past of suffering from illness once.
I’ve come to realize since our reunion that her health is on the mend... but even so, I wanted to eliminate anything that might be a burden to her while sleeping in someone else's house, which must be at least slightly stressful.
...As for why she ended up staying over.
Whether the answer I just came up with is right or wrong doesn’t really matter at this point.
Anyway, I’m out of the bath, so I’m going to host Kanade to the best of my ability!
...Fired up, I headed straight for my room.
I climbed the stairs, put my hand on the doorknob, and hesitated.
...Should I knock or something?
Technically, the room is a private space now. Kanade is the only one inside.
...For today, Kanade’s only private space is my room.
Wouldn’t it offend her to enter such a private space without knocking?
Ah, this is bad.
At this rate, I feel like I could invent a whole new set of manners that don't exist in any manual, hold a lecture about them, and make a fortune.
...Stop thinking about such stupid things, I told myself, and steeled my resolve.
I put my hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly.
In the end, I didn’t knock.
Because this is my house. And this room is my room.
I reached the conclusion that, from the standpoint of being the owner of this room, knocking just felt wrong.
“...Hup.”
And so, I immediately regretted the decision I had just made.
The time was late at night.
It was about time for good children to go to bed. Even for adults, it was a time when fatigue starts to pile up, or they’d start nodding off if they had an early morning.
At such a time, Kanade wasn’t relaxing in the room...
She was on all fours by the bookshelf, reaching her arm into the tiny gap between the bookshelf and the wall.
...Just what was she doing in a place like that?
...Come to think of it, there’s an outlet between that bookshelf and the wall.
Maybe Kanade... is trying to plug in an AC adapter there to charge her smartphone.
If so, I should help her out quickly.
Opening the door wider... I looked at Kanade on all fours, peeking through the gap in her loose-collared T-shirt, and my thoughts ground to a halt.
...It was pitch black inside the T-shirt. However, I could faintly see a cleavage. And... unfortunately, it was too dark to see anything beyond that.
I almost felt like clicking my tongue in disappointment, but this wasn't the time for that.
“Whew. I plugged it in.”
Just as I decided to help her, Kanade stopped being on all fours and moved to a kneeling position, a satisfied smile on her face as if she had accomplished a great task.
“...Ah.”
“Ah, Ak-kun.”
Kanade gave me a smile.
“Welcome back. You were slow.”
“Sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. Thanks to that, I was able to finish a job, so it’s okay.”
“A job?”
Does that have something to do with her plugging something into the outlet in the gap between the bookshelf and the wall?
“Ak-kun.”
“What?”
“Let’s be together much, much more and forever from now on, okay?”
Kanade’s voice sounded excited, but the light had vanished from her eyes once again.