I Was Unreasonably Dumped By My Girlfriend And Had My Heart Broken. When I Rescued A Beautiful Girl Who Was My Former Classmate And Idol In My Class From A Group Of Yarisa, My Gray College Life Started To Shine - Chapter 25
Episode 25: What to Bring for the First Sleepover?
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“No way, it’s a problem to stay over at the house of a guy you’re not even dating.”
“What, are you planning something naughty, Nogami-kun? Ehehe~”
“…It’s not like that, it’s more like it’s generally frowned upon. Yeah, how about a capsule hotel? That should be okay, right?”
“But I heard capsule hotels can be dangerous, with weird people showing up. Nogami-kun said so, dangerous places are a no-go.”
“…Then how about asking another friend?”
“We can’t bother someone at this hour. Besides, I’m not that close with anyone else yet.”
“But you don’t have clothes or anything.”
“It’s okay if we stop by a convenience store on the way.”
And so on.
Desperately trying to get her to go elsewhere, I suggested various options, but in the end, she had her way.
This time, we walked along the nighttime streets from Aoba’s house to mine.
Along the way, Aoba asked me to wait outside as she went into the convenience store. Probably, no, definitely, she bought underwear.
Thinking that, I couldn’t bring myself to look directly at her holding the bag.
We finally arrived home.
“Should I wait? You probably want to tidy up a bit, right?”
Aoba said that, but I shook my head.
“No, it’s fine. You can come in.”
“Nogami-kun, were you planning to call me over for cleaning?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not the type to be messy in the first place.”
I opened the door and let her in first.
“Oh, it’s like this. Is it a one-room apartment? It’s kind of similar to my place. Excuse me for intruding.”
After expressing her admiration, she slipped off her shoes as if rubbing her feet together and headed to the hallway. Of course, she left her shoes there.
I didn’t particularly mind that, but I aligned them next to my own shoes.
By that time, Aoba was already inspecting my room.
“…Isn’t it too tidy?”
That was her first impression upon seeing my room.
“The futon on the bed is neatly arranged, and there’s no mess with the manga. I thought guys’ rooms would be, you know, a different kind of untidy.”
“Who’s the owner of that room you’re talking about?”
“Well, it’s my first time visiting a guy’s room! I had an illusion.”
“Anyway, have a seat. There’s a cushion next to the low table, feel free to use it.”
As I said that, I returned to the hallway, doubling as a kitchen.
Considering it was a bit chilly outside, I decided to make some warm tea.
Starting from boiling water in the kettle, a few minutes later, holding two cups, I returned to the room to find her already settling in.
Sitting on the cushion, she had grabbed the first volume of the shonen manga I had on the bookshelf and was deeply engrossed in reading.
“Is it interesting?”
“Oh, tea! That’s nice. Yeah, it’s interesting. I vaguely remember reading around volume 10 as a casual read. This is how it started.”
“Why start from volume 10? Well, I guess it suddenly turns into a battle manga from there.”
As I said this, I placed one of the cups in front of her and sat across from her.
Taking a sip of the tea, exhaling deeply, our breaths coincided.
“We sync up perfectly, don’t we?”
“Quite literally.”
From there, we continued reading manga for a while.
Just as Aoba finished reading one volume, I was waiting for her.
“It’s getting late, should we sleep? There’s still tomorrow, you know.”
Actually, I was woken up from the state of being unable to sleep.
Considering the lectures tomorrow, I wanted to sleep as soon as possible. That’s what I thought, but Aoba frowned in dissatisfaction.
“Aw, let’s think about tomorrow, tomorrow. Besides, I bought this just for this occasion. I want to use it together, just the two of us.”
Saying that, Aoba brought forth the plastic bag she bought from the convenience store earlier.
The semi-transparent bag hid its contents. From it, a vaguely black, square box appeared, making me slightly nervous.
While it was 99% impossible, that remaining 1% entertained an unthinkable idea in my head.
As my wild imagination started to grow, Aoba exclaimed, “Here, this!”
Looking at what Aoba held up with both hands, my tension eased.
What came out was a board with pieces, a simple game of Othello that could be concluded by just flipping pieces.
Well, of course. In fact, it was better this way. Thank you for shattering my lustful thoughts.