Chapter 17

For dinner, I settled for two cups of instant ramen that came in a care package from my parents.

Even so, it wasn’t enough. Recently, my appetite has been growing even more. It’s when there’s no food that my hunger seems to increase.

It’s not that I’m being forced into restraint, but I don’t want to rely on my parents too much.

I moved out, thinking living alone would be easy, so I find it hard to ask them for money now that I’m short. I also don’t want to contact them too much.

I’ve even started hesitating to shop at convenience stores.

There was a rule at my part-time job that I could eat the discarded food during breaks, which helped, but now that I’ve quit, that’s no longer an option.

Though there were various issues with my family, at least they made sure I had three proper meals a day. Now, in an environment where food doesn’t just appear when I stay silent, I find myself struggling for something to eat. I realize now just how much of a glutton I am.

It was past nine at night.

Dinner, shower, and homework were all finished.

I turned on the TV even though I wasn’t watching it and lay down on the futon with my smartphone in hand.

Yuki left right after that.

She pushed me down and then quickly changed her attitude.

When I offered to walk her part of the way, she coldly replied, “It’s fine, I’m good.”

She didn’t seem like the same person who had taken such bold actions. It was almost as if her body had been taken over by someone else.

That must have been a spur-of-the-moment thing… Maybe she didn’t intend to but just got carried away.

Even so, she left quite the lasting impression.

I couldn’t concentrate on anything.

Whenever I let my guard down, my brain would start imagining weird things on its own.

Lips, tongue, the sensation of her skin. The smell. And her breathing.

Against my will, my brain kept replaying the vivid images from that moment.

I had become quite defective, but I couldn’t send it for repair or replacement.

It was best to release the tension with something else.

While searching for videos on a certain website, my phone vibrated with a message. The sender was Yuki. When I opened the app, an image appeared without any text.

The photo seemed to be taken in a bathroom. A girl was facing the mirror, taking a picture with her phone. The problem was her outfit.

She had a large white bath towel wrapped around her from her chest down. Her exposed shoulders were damp, so it seemed like she had just finished a bath.

The face was obscured, or rather, deliberately hidden by the phone.

At first glance, I couldn’t tell if it was Yuki herself.

However, judging by her arms, skin tone, hair, body shape, and the swell of her chest, it seemed to be her without a doubt. I decided to reply.

“What’s this?”

“Tonight’s side dish ♡”

“Thank you very much!”

I had no idea what her intentions were, but I decided not to argue and thanked her.

With a sigh, I tapped the image to enlarge it. I zoomed in further on her chest.

There was more than I expected. Yes, there was more than I expected.

As I continued to zoom in and scrutinize, another message came in.

“Did you get horny?”

“Yea, I let out a lot.”

“Die, pervert.”

She started it herself, and then this is how she treats me. Is she not happy that my reaction was what she expected? What does she want?

I’ll save the photo for now. It’s not unusable, but if I use it, I feel like I’ll lose. On the contrary, I was able to calm down.

I wanted to ask again what she meant by today’s events, but after that, I didn’t receive any more replies from Yuki. Did I upset her?

After a while, as I was wondering how to bring it up, I received a message from her.

“I’m sorry about today, the conversation got cut off.”

She suddenly changed the topic.

At first, I thought so, but when I looked closely, the sender was different. It was Miki. The icon was also Mickey Mouse.

I was momentarily confused when I received a message from Miki, but this was Miki’s account. A contact was added when I exchanged Line with Miki.

Looking at the text, I tilted my head, wondering.

I only ran into Miki in the morning on the way to school. I don’t really remember if we left off on a conversation. Anyway, I’ll reply.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Is it okay if I call you now?”

I widened my eyes.

I double-checked the sender, wondering if it was really Miki and not Yuki. I’d be scared if she said, “Good evening, it’s Mickey M0use.”

I didn’t think there was anything that needed to be discussed over the phone, but I couldn’t say no either. I replied with “Sure” and the call came through immediately.

“Good evening.”

When I held the phone to my ear, I heard a voice that had become quite familiar recently.

“Sorry for the suddeness..”

“It’s fine, really.”

Maybe she’s nervous, but Miki’s voice was small and a little hoarse.

However, her voice really is almost identical. I could easily believe that Yuki was playing a prank and calling me.

“So… what’s up?”

I cautiously asked.

The reason was that I had a very bad feeling at this point.

It was possible that Yuki had come to my house today and talked about that. Maybe she was trying to confront me about it.

I had completely forgotten about Miki until now. It hadn’t crossed my mind at all.

I hoped that Yuki hadn’t been telling her anything that wasn’t true.