CH 4.1

Chapter 4 : She’s Starting Her Day Off – Part 1

A few days had passed since they decided on a mutual give and take, with Shoichi teaching Amiru how to study and Amiru taking care of Shoichi.

During that time, there were no problems, and their relationship could be said to be in good standings.

But one holiday–the relationship was about to crack in an unexpected way.

The crack occurred on the second floor of the Kashima house, in front of Shoichi’s room.

“As I said, I told you we have to do it there! I don’t know why you don’t understand!”

“I said it’s fine, didn’t I? You’re the one who needs to understand!”

“Nooo, I don’t understand! It’s so messy anyway! You’re definitely going to get sick!”

“As I said, that’s not true! Well, it might be a little messy…but it’s just so I can keep track of what’s where! It’s all calculated!”

“I heard on TV that people with dirty rooms usually say that! Yes, that’s just an excuse~!”

“Don’t make assumptions! Anyway, I will not accept any of your involvement here!”

Shoichi shouted, refusing to give up. But Amiru seemed to be the same way.

She glared at Shoichi and was equipped with a sling, rubber gloves, a bucket and a dustpan. She also had a vacuum cleaner nearby, which would now explain why they were arguing.

Amiru was trying to clean Shoichi’s room, and Shoichi was refusing to let her.

Amiru insisted that since she was Shoichi’s substitute mother–and because she loved taking care of him–it was only natural for her to clean up Shoichi’s room.

You’ve got to be kidding me, Shoichi thought.

I did say that Amiru can take care of me. But I don’t remember allowing her to raid my room. This is a private space. It’s like a personal sanctuary–

No–here, he shook his head and admitted it honestly.

To be honest, he was embarrassed to show his room. Especially to Amiru.

The reason for this was not clear even to himself, but it was probably because his room was not in a condition where he could show it off.

However, even so.

“Sho-chan, You don’t know the time to give up! See, Sho-chan has more points than me. I think I have the right to clean up a lot more!”

“Ugh, that’s true, but…” Shoichi groaned as he looked at the notebook Amiru showed him.

The other day, he decided on a guideline and wrote down the points, which were also copied in Amiru’s notebook. According to it, “Shoichi: 30 points” and “Amiru: 20 points.”

“I haven’t been able to take care of you for 10 points! This means I’m not taking care of you enough at all. It’s not worth studying so hard for!”

“No, as I said, this is just a guide for you to take care of me…”

“Anyway, I’ll do what I have the…claim to!”

With Amiru in front of him, who probably couldn’t write the word “claim” in kanji (‘time to give up’ from before was also doubtful), Shoichi was a little troubled. In any case, he was the one who brought up this point system, and unusually, Amiru’s argument had the upper hand.

If this is how it’s going to be, I probably shouldn’t have brought up the points… But this way, I can weigh things properly and fairly… Besides, that room is really…

And so on, while he was thinking about this, “An opening! Excuse me for disturbing you!”

As soon as she said that, Amiru quickly put her hand on the doorknob, and Shoichi screamed, “Ah!”

It was too late. The forbidden door was opened, exposing the entire room.

Amiru’s eyes seemed to blink when she first saw the room. It was probably because the curtains were closed and it was dark. Eventually, her eyes seemed to get used to it and, “Hmm?” She raised her eyebrows.

She had expected Shoichi’s room to be dirty, but she was wrong.

–The room was extremely dirty.

“…The final disposal site?”

“…For an Amiru, you’ve learned a lot.”

Shoichi smiled at the words indicating a garbage landfill, but he couldn’t hide the sweat on his forehead.

Bags of sweets, clothes, other trash, books, and other things were piled up, and the room looked just as it sounds, a wretched mess with no place to put one’s feet.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Fortunately, Amiru did not falter in the face of the mountain of garbage.

‘I’m getting more fighting spirit! I’ll clean it up. Sho-chan, make yourself at home downstairs!’

He had been given an unspoken notice that he was out of commission, and Shoichi reluctantly went down to the living room.

‘Oh, but I think I should get about 10 points for this one…’

He was a little disheartened when he heard that. Shoichi’s room was in such a bad state that Amiru, who loved housework, wanted to get extra points for it.

“No, it may look messy, but… It’s my life, so who cares?” Mumbling, he prepared to study.

Not for himself, but for teaching Amiru.

She came all the way over here on her day off. Let’s give her a good lesson too.

Originally, Shoichi had planned to look after Amiru and teach her how to study only on weekdays. But this morning, Amiru showed up and prepared breakfast, laughing and saying, “I’m your substitute mother, so it’s natural that I do it every day.” It seemed that she was more interested in taking care of him than being disciplined.

Because of this, it was Shoichi’s rational thought that she should study as well, and it was also a small revenge. After all, Amiru suddenly said that she would clean up Shoichi’s room.

‘If the room isn’t cleaned properly, Sho-chan will get sick.’

She said that she wanted to clean all the rooms once every three days. However, since there was also school to attend, she said she would at least clean Shoichi’s room once a week.

She wasn’t kidding.

“What the h**l, you only need to clean up your room once every two months.”

Shoichi said something that Amiru would protest furiously if she heard it.

“It may look messy at first glance, but the things were arranged in an ideal way. It may not be obvious to the casual observer, though. However, there’s something unsettling about having it all turned upside down… But it’s not like I have anything to hide, so it’s fine.”

The only things in Shoichi’s room were usually study materials or books for his hobbies. He didn’t have any books about overexposed women, as adolescent boys often had. He didn’t even have anyone close to him that had anything like that.

One exception to this was a classmate with a bit of an otaku hobby that he had recently talked to in class, and he had one of those sensational manga–

“Ah…”

Shoichi’s face turned pale.

Yesterday, one of his classmates offered him a manga with a lot of erotic occurrences among girls, saying, “Sometimes, honors students should read this.” He rejected it because it didn’t suit his taste at all, but to his surprise, the manga was in his bag when he got home.

It was a prank and the friend had planted it in Shoichi’s bag before he knew it. “What have you done!” Shoichi was indignant and decided to get back at him the next time he saw him at school.

That was yesterday.

The next day, that is, today, was a day off–he still hadn’t returned the manga!

“Oh, no! This is bad!”

Shoichi stood up, pale as a sheet. He started to wander around the living room.

No, calm down, I left that book in my bag. Even Amiru wouldn’t bother to organize my bag. If so, it would be better to wait here instead of going to the room and fiddling with the bag. Otherwise, it would seem unnatural. Praying to God, Shoichi waited for the time to pass.

Exactly one hour later, Amiru came out of his room.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, but I got it all taken care of!”

“Ah, yeah. Good work. Um, well, did you find anything weird?”

“Hmm? Anything weird?”

“No, it’s okay if there’s nothing in particular.”

Shoichi was relieved to see that Amiru had a refreshing smile on her face, perhaps from a sense of accomplishment. Apparently, she hadn’t found the manga. But one can never be too careful.

He had to take the opportunity to go back to his room and hide the manga somewhere else.

“Alright, Amiru. Let’s just start studying.”

“Eh? Not today, it’s a holiday! We don’t need to study on our day off!”

“No, you just barged in here on your day off to take care of me. Besides, the points should be 50-50 now. You’re going to be doing a lot of housework after this anyway to earn points, right? If that’s the case, it wouldn’t hurt if I teach you how to study.”

“Uuuh, okay… Besides, if I don’t work hard, I’ll end up repeating a year.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. Let’s study Japanese today. I’ll get the dictionary, just give me a second.” After saying this, Shoichi left the living room.

Now he could deal with that manga!

He hurriedly ran up the stairs and came to the front of his room.

He opened the door and was impressed.

“Ah, ohh…!”

A vacant space had been created in that final disposal site. All the garbage was put in garbage bags and put in the corner of the room. The books were put in their proper order on the bookshelf, and the laundry was probably thrown into the washing machine downstairs.

The floor was of course vacuumed, the windows wiped clean, and the curtains opened to let in the sunlight. The futon was folded neatly on the bed. The cluttered pens and pencils on the desk were probably put away in a drawer or something.

“No way, I can’t believe this. Everything’s all cleared up–“

–Not everything.

Shoichi stared at the desk again.

There was something on it. It looked like a book and a note. With his eyebrows raised, he picked it up and checked it.

His eyes almost popped out of his head.

There, was the manga with the exposed girl, with a note on it.

‘Don’t worry, Sho-chan is old enough to know! I’ll pretend I never saw it!’

It was obvious who did this.

Shoichi felt his body burning from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.

“No! this isn’t mine… If you were going to pretend you didn’t see it, don’t put it in a prominent place along with the note!”

After shouting, Shoichi realized that the person to whom he was directing his voice was downstairs, and he rushed out of the room in a panic.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Then, for the next hour or so, Shoichi explained to Amiru about the source of the manga.

“So, that’s not my manga. Do you understand?”

“Ah, yeah. I mean, I don’t really care either way…”

“That’s not good enough for me! I swear, I don’t read those vulgar mangas! It would be a breach of honor if anyone thought I was reading that stuff!”

“I don’t see why it’s such a big deal. I heard about it from Mea-chan and others. I know that boys at your age have a lot to deal with. I heard that when they see a girl’s skin, they become like animals. So it’s no wonder they read those manga. It can’t be helped.”

“Don’t say anything outrageous with your little overheard knowledge…”

He’d like her to understand a little more about modesty as a woman of her age. But Amiru put her hand on her cheek and giggled, “Oh no,” and Shoichi closed his eyes. By the way, this girl’s gestures sometimes made her look like an old lady.

In fact, he wondered how much of her knowledge of men was actually infused into her by the people around her. He was vaguely curious, but decided not to ask, as it might be sexual harassment.

“Anyway, I’ve spent more time explaining than I thought I would… Let’s get to studying.”

“Ah, I knew it was going to happen…”

The two of them began to study.

Shoichi instructed Amiru with a textbook and dictionary in hand. Amiru, who had been complaining, was suitably enthusiastic once they started working on it.

As with English, he had her study mainly in the form of tests. The time flew by as they had question and answer sessions and quizzes.

We should take a break soon. When Shoichi thought about this, Amiru blurted out.

“Mhmm, I wonder if I’m studying properly.”

“What’s wrong, all of a sudden?”

“Because I keep making mistakes on my test questions… I’m worried.”

“It’s gonna be okay, I can’t say for sure, though. But the more I watch you study, the more I’m starting to grasp some of your characteristics.”

“Eh, characteristics?”

“Yeah, like in English, you make a lot of little mistakes. You learn things incorrectly. But if you take it easy, your memory is not that bad. Particularly…” Flipping through his reference book, Shoichi showed her a page with a particular question on it. “This text question. This is a question consisting of excerpts from a novel, and your score in this section is unusually good. You remember all the kanji characters. I wonder why, but I think it’s because the main character is doing housework.”

“Ah, maybe so. I remember the words ‘detergent’ and ‘rice cooking’ because I see them so often.”

“Also, you know how the main character feels about cleaning up. So you are the type of person who is capable of doing what you are interested in. So, if you’re interested in studying itself…”

“……”

“…Kind of impossible though. Alright, don’t stare at me like you’re about to cry.”

If I could at least alleviate her dislike of studying, even a little. Shoichi thought about this, but he couldn’t come up with a good idea. As he was wrapping his head over it, Amiru, who was suddenly reviewing her notes, raised her voice.

“Nee~, Sho-chan.”

“What?”

“This kanji over here, how do you read it?”

Amiru then closed the distance between them and tried to show him the paper. Their bodies were in close contact, and the soft touch and somewhat sweet smell peculiar to girls stimulated all his five senses.

Shoichi hurriedly pushed this defenseless girl off of him.

“Y-You’re too close!”

“Eh?”

“And I taught you this kanji a while ago. Really, you should learn it properly…”

“Ahaha, sorry. One more time, please.”

Amiru clasped her hands together and apologized. Seeing her body squirm, Shoichi realized something after all this time and looked at her in dismay. Amiru noticed and tilted her head.

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Sho-chan?”

“No… If I think about it calmly, I’ve only seen you in uniform all the time. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you in plain clothes.”

“Ah, I guess you’re right… But don’t stare at me too much, it’s embarrassing.”

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

He said so, but Shoichi was having a lot of trouble averting his eyes.

Amiru’s outfit seemed fresh somehow.

She was dressed simply in a shirt on top and denim shorts on the bottom, but the shirt was boldly open at the shoulders, showing the shoulder straps of the camisole underneath, and the shorts were so short that he could see down her thighs. Her skin was white and smooth, and his eyes were drawn to it.

Of course, the loose and fluffy side-ups and the thin but clearly visible makeup were still in place. The combination of these factors had given Shoichi a strong perception of her as a woman.

He glanced at her so much that Amiru must have been curious, as she asked Shoichi while blushing a little.

“Um, what do you think? Do you think my outfit is weird?”

“It’s not weird… I’m just not used to seeing you dressed like this, but I think it looks good on you.”

“I’m glad. To tell you the truth, feminine and girly outfits suit me better than these casual ones. But when I try to fit in with everyone else, I tend to dress more like this.”

“Feminine… Girly…?”

“It’s more loose-fitting. I like it better that way. Because, you know, I have small b*****s.”

At the last blunt statement, Shoichi couldn’t help but cough out, “Ga-ha-go-ho.” His face turned red up to his ears. He wished she wouldn’t use such provocative words to a high school boy in his adolescence.

However, Amiru looked at Shoichi with a puzzled look on her face, and then smiled and said in an amused way, “What? What? Sho-chan, are you by any chance interested in my b*****s?”

“N-No, you’re wrong, this is a misunderstanding! Why did you come to that conclusion?!”

“Because Mea-chan told me. She said that boys love girls’ b***s. I really don’t see what’s so great about this stuff.”

“…No, come on. Get off that subject. Really, just let it go.”

Shoichi said as he felt a headache coming on when Amiru started groping her chest. This girl probably had yet to understand what it’s like to be a man. That was a bit of a relief, though.

But still, Shoichi said inwardly, Amiru’s friend only tells Amiru unnecessary things. He firmly swore in his heart that he would talk directly to this girl named Mea once.

“Hah~… For now, let’s get on with our studies. We’ll be taking a break in a few minutes.”

“Yes~. Yatta~. I’m exhausted!”

I’m exhausted all of a sudden, too. Shoichi wanted to say, but he felt that saying it out loud would make him even more tired, so he decided to keep quiet.