Chapter 5

By the time Hasegawa got out of the shower, it was already 12 midnight. As they have nothing else to discuss, the two went to bed.

Hasegawa had offered her the bed but Hina already felt apologetic for bothering him so she chose to sleep on the sofa instead. It was a two-seater sofa but it seemed to be made a little bigger so Hina wouldn’t have trouble sleeping even she rolled around a bit. She laid on the sofa and covered herself up to her nose using the blanket Hasegawa lent her.

“Well then, let’s sleep. We shall wake up at 6:30 tomorrow morning and have breakfast at 7:00.”

“…Tomorrow is Sunday, right? Isn’t that a little early?”

“Just because it’s a holiday doesn’t mean I should be slacking off. I won’t stop you if you want to revel in indolence but that means you’ll be missing breakfast so have that in mind.”

“O-Okay.”

After hearing her reply, Hasegawa turned off the lights. The instant darkness filled the room, an overwhelming silence took over.

Hina tossed and turned on the sofa several times but sleep still didn’t come to her and she let out a small sigh. Although she wasn’t the type to feel uncomfortable sleeping with a different pillow, uneasiness somehow washed over her. Pressing her face against the cushion of the sofa, Hina closed her eyes tight. However, no matter long her eyes was shut, she still couldn’t sleep and instead, she became increasingly wide awake.

“Can’t sleep?”

At that moment, Hasegawa’s voice broke the silence and reverberated throughout the room.

“Yeah, well…”

“Then shall I teach you where the pressure points are to help induce sleeping? Behind the ears, there’s…”

“T-That, don’t bother. I-I’m sure it won’t be long before I…”

That’s what she said but she didn’t feel sleepy at all. But that doesn’t mean she wanted to listen to some crap about pressure points.

“Is that so? Well, then… why don’t we talk for a bit?”

“Talk?”

“Since I’m already in this situation, I wanted to try to reconcile our hobbies and interests.”

“Reconcile our interests…?”

“To put it simply, I want to know more about you, Ms. Hina Uzuki.”

“That’s fine but first, can you stop calling me by my full name? It feels a bit…formal and distancing.”

“Is that so? Well then, I’ll start calling you Hina from now on.”

“Why the first name…”

“There’s a possibility that your last name will change, isn’t it?”

Being reminded that her surname will change after marriage, Hina’s face turned sullen.

“…But there are no such plans right now…”

“That’s good to know. I’ll be troubled if you have such plans now.”

“…”

He said he’d be troubled if she had marriage plans without so much a change in his facial expression. If he really thought so, at least his voice should have changed a few pitches to express his unease. Thinking along those lines, Hina didn’t realize her voice dropped low.

“Do you really like me, Hasegawa?”

“Of course. No matter how many times you hear it, you still find it hard to believe?”

Hasegawa affirmed with a clear expression. But that didn’t relieve her doubts.

“Well, you always have that expressionless face and after being repeatedly told that I was ‘far from your ideal’, there’s no way I’d easily believe that.”

“It’s true that you are far from my ideal, but it’s also true that I like you. In the first place, I wouldn’t let someone I don’t like inside my house. I sincerely like you.”

“I-Is that so…?”

No matter how many times she heard it, she still felt embarrassed by his unabashed confession. Perhaps it was due to the darkness of the room but she somehow felt that his voice carried a more serious tone than usual.

Feeling frustrated, Hina turned her body towards the sofa but Hasegawa’s voice called out from behind.

“I have another question. Is that okay?”

“What is it?”

“Today, who did you go out with?”

“Huh?”

She let out a mumble of confusion at the unexpected question. Turning her face towards Hasegawa, she found him staring at her with a serious expression.

“Your face was flushed from drinking sake, wasn’t it? And until this late into the night… Well, at least it looked like you have been drinking. Didn’t your companion send you home?”

“That’s… because my companion’s married…”

“What?”

He spoke in a low voice she has never heard before. Hearing him in a tone that was devoid of his usual calm demeanor, Hina’s shoulder shuddered slightly.

“You went out with a married person?”

“Yes. Well, as usual…? We’ve known each other even before that person got married.”

“…”

“…”

Hina felt the atmosphere dropped a few degrees. Even without looking at his face, she could tell that Hasegawa was somewhat angry. It was like he was emitting icy-cold air and the room felt instantly chilly.

(Hm? Why are you mad? Did I say something wrong?)

Feeling cold sweat run down her spine, she averted her eyes from Hasegawa. She felt him move and the next moment, the sound of the door opening can be heard.

“…I’ll go cool my head.”

Having said that, Hasegawa disappeared into the veranda.

***

Hina slowly woke up to the fragrant aroma of meat. After confirming that she was lying on a fluffy mattress, she gasped in surprise. She jumped to her feet and sure enough, she was on top of Hasegawa’s bed.

“What? How?”

Hina hurriedly looked over the sofa where she remembered falling asleep last night. Laying on top was the blanket she borrowed the night before.

“Good morning. Are you finally awake? You’re about 30 minutes late, you know.”

While saying so, Hasegawa placed a plate of bacon and fried egg on the center table. Afterwards, he put the bread and salad.

“Let me tell you this now that you’re awake. Yesterday I slept on the sofa. None of what you’re worried about happened so you can relax.”

“No, I didn’t worry much about it…”

Somehow, Hasegawa didn’t seem like the type to take advantage of the situation. She was going to make that remark but held back as she felt his piercing glare.

“Please worry about it.”

“Huh? Why?”

“You’re too unguarded. You should raise your guard up more against men…”

“No, it’s because it’s you, Hasegawa. If it was another guy, I’d be a little more wary and put up more guard…”

“…”

Hasegawa’s mood instantly dropped and Hina held her breath. Even though his facial expression didn’t change, his gaze sharpened by five times.

Without realizing that she was now able to read through Hasegawa’s emotions, Hina tilted her head in puzzlement.

Gazing at her, Hasegawa breathed out a sigh and raised the edge of his mouth a little as he handed the cup of coffee he had just poured.

“Well then, shall we have breakfast?”