I'm in a Messed Up Situation that I Couldn't Care More.

Chapter 5: Emotionally Unstable

My life of sleeping and living at the gym began.

Customers never showed up.

I never saw any other employees, and the gym always seemed deserted.

What exactly was this place?

I trained on the muscle-training machines so that I’d be ready when customers eventually came. So that I wouldn’t be tight-lipped if I was asked how to use the machine due to simply not knowing how to actually use it myself.

Weight training turned out to be surprisingly fun and intriguing.

Breaking a sweat made me feel refreshed.

I also learned about muscle-building techniques by watching online videos.

Weight training became a habit of mine.

However, no matter how much I trained my body, customers never appeared.

If there was no actual work, I wouldn’t get paid, would I?

……But still, just having a place to live provided for free was more than enough to be grateful for.

***************

Hiruma-san was often out and about and rarely at the gym.

Occasionally, she would suddenly appear and chat with me if I was there.

She often brought me coffee or food.

“Koichi, bringing your girlfriend here is a no-go, alright?”

Hiruma-san and I were sitting next to each other on the sofa.

“I don’t have a girlfriend, and I don’t plan on getting one.”

At the cafe and izakaya where I worked part-time, several people had asked me to go out with them, but I had turned them all down.

“Hmm. Why not?”

She placed her hand on my thigh and started tapping her fingers gently.

“Because I’m busy just trying to get by.”

“Oh, I see. Poor thing.”

Hiruma-san moved her hand up towards my groin.

“Ahaha. That tickles.”

I gently removed Hiruma-san’s hand.

**************

One day, I asked Hiruma-san.

“When will the work actually start?”

“When the right time comes.”

As Hiruma-san said this, she began to gently stroke my arm.

“That tickles you know?”

I gently removed her hand from my arm and took a step back.

I gradually got used to her skinship and no longer felt any sense of discomfort or strangeness whenever she did it.

I had become numb to it.

*********************

On another night, I was also cleaning the shower room again.

Although a cleaning company came to clean the floors once a week, I still cleaned my room and the shower room every three days or so to keep the place tidy.

I don’t want to be kicked out by Hiruma-san because of a dirty room.

“You’re cleaning? I’ve already hired people to do that..”

I was startled by Hiruma-san’s sudden voice and turned around.

“I saw the light on late at night and came to check it out.”

The scent of alcohol wafted from her.

“Oh, you’ve built up quite the muscles. Are you doing muscle training?”

Hiruma-san said, touching my upper arm.

“Yes. In case customers come.”

When I replied, Hiruma-san laughed.

“Why are you laughing?… Whoa!”

Hiruma-san suddenly leaned on me.

She was drunk.