My Beautiful Childhood Friend Is Working in a Maid Cafe For Some Reason - Chapter 30

“Hey, what are we going to do about that roach… I mean, G?”

“I don’t know.”

You don’t know? That was a quick answer.

In the first place, if we don’t do something about the cockroach, I don’t know how long Yukina will stay here. Not that I intend to let her stay forever.

“The most effective thing would be to set up some roach traps, but in that mess, it might be difficult.”

First, cleaning up the room is the priority.

“Just so you know, there’s no way you can clean up that room by yourself.”

“Why not!?”

“Who knows when or where the roach might pop out. There’s no way I could clean up by myself when I’m too scared!”

“Then get your mom or dad to help you.”

“I could, but… Yusuke, won’t you help me?”

“What!?”

What is she saying?

Me, help clean up that dirty room?

There’s no way I’d do something so troublesome. Especially without getting paid.

“I-I feel like I’d be okay if you were with me, Yusuke…”

What’s with that logic?

When I glanced at her, Yukina was looking up at me with those big eyes.

Beautiful girls and their puppy-dog eyes… it’s not fair.

“…Fine.”

“T-Thank you. Then let’s start tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

“Oh, and just because you’re going into my room, don’t try anything weird!”

“I won’t… Besides, once we’re done cleaning, I’ll leave right away, and you’re going back to your parents’ house, right?”

“Huh? Why?”

“Why? Just because we set up some traps doesn’t mean we’ll catch it right away. What are you going to do in the meantime?”

“You’re not going to let me stay here?”

“Of course not.”

Spending several days with Yukina would be too much for my heart. Besides, even if it’s just a few days, it’s unthinkable for a guy and girl who aren’t even dating to live together.

“T-Then what if I stay in my room?”

“Huh?”

“I-I mean, you could stay in my room until it’s caught… is that not okay?”

“No.”

“Why not!”

Having Yukina stay in my room is out of the question, but me staying in hers is even more out of the question.

“Why are you so against going back to your parents’ house?”

“It’s further from school. You should know that much!”

“You could just walk a bit more!”

Of course, it’s closer to school from here than from her home, so she’d have more time for herself. But even if Yukina, who usually keeps to herself, gets to school early, she’d just be alone, so being a little late wouldn’t make a difference.

“Y-Yusuke, why are you so insistent on not being with me?”

“Well, you should understand… It would feel like we’re living together or something…”

“It’s not living together. It’s just staying over. We’ve done it tons of times when we were kids, right?”

Yukina blushed as she said this, and it’s true that when we were kids, we’d often stay over at each other’s houses on the weekends.

But that was when we were kids. Now that we’re older, sleepovers aren’t something I want to deal with.

“We’re different now from when we were kids. Besides, didn’t you say you don’t want to be as close as we were when we were kids? So a sleepover is out of the question.”

“But still!”

“Anyway! After we clean your room tomorrow, you’re going back to your parents’ house. The trap should catch it within three days, so just bear with it for a bit. This is all because you let your room get so messy in the first place. Got it?”

Yukina didn’t seem satisfied.

But she understood that what I said made sense, so she reluctantly answered, “Fine…”

Why does she look so disappointed!?

“Alright, let’s go to bed early to prepare for tomorrow.”

“Huh, already?”

It’s just past 10 PM now. For a high school senior, it’s a pretty early time to go to bed. If I were alone, I’d stay up much later, enjoying my free time.

But with nothing to do with Yukina here, there’s no point in staying up. We don’t know how long it will take to clean that messy room, so it’s better to rest while we can.

“Of course. Let’s go to sleep.”

Now, there’s one problem.

There’s only one bed in my house, and no guest futon.

Letting Yukina sleep in my bed feels weird, but making her sleep on the sofa doesn’t seem right either…

“Would you prefer the bed or the sofa?”

“…The bed.”

“Then use the bed. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

It might make my back hurt, but we can’t sleep together.

“I feel bad…”

“No, you’re a guest after all… It would be wrong to make you sleep on the sofa.”

“T-That’s not what I mean… You could just sleep in the bed with me…”

Yukina mumbled, blushing in embarrassment.

My body froze like a stone.

Is she a pervert or not… which is it!?

“D-don’t say something so stupid!”

That was close. I almost gave in to my desires for a second.

I don’t feel anything like that towards Yukina…

“Pfft, haha! Why are you so flustered? I was just joking!”

A joke…

Yukina laughed joyfully.

Then she took off her glasses and lay on her back in the bed, her voice sweet and teasing as if she was inviting me.

“Hey, you pervert Yusuke who fell for it even for a second. You can come over here if you want. As thanks for letting me stay, I’ll really sleep with you.”

I silently walked over to Yukina.

“Just kidding, like you’d actually… Wh-What?”

I stared down at Yukina without a word.

She looked up at me with a bit of anxiety.

“Kya!”

I suddenly placed my hands on either side of Yukina’s face.

Then I slowly leaned in closer, still silent.

“W-wait…”

No matter what she said, I didn’t respond.

Sometimes, a little payback is necessary to teach her a lesson. She needs to learn what happens when she teases someone…

“Hey, what’s wrong? You’re scaring me, Yusuke…”

Yukina’s expression started to show signs of panic. Even I thought she looked cute like this.

Should I actually do something? I don’t care who my first kiss is with…

The scent unique to girls was drawing me in even more.

“Say something…”

“Be quiet. You’re the one who suggested this.”

“I-I know, but…”

“Then you should be prepared to accept it.”

It doesn’t matter who Yukina likes.

She needs to understand the power of her words and how much impact they have.

“I’m s-sorry…”

Yukina started crying.

Tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

“It’s too late for apologies now.”

She closed her eyes, seemingly resigning herself to whatever was coming next. Her body was trembling like a small, frightened animal.

…I guess this is enough.

I stopped leaning over Yukina and stood up straight.

“Idiot.”

“Huh…?”

Yukina blinked up at me in confusion, still crying and breathing a bit heavily. Even like this, she looked oddly alluring.

“It’s payback for all the times you’ve messed with me.”

Yukina’s body shook slightly.

I knew what words were coming next, so I decided to leave the room quickly.

“You… you idiot! Pervert! Coward!”

“If you’ve learned your lesson, don’t ever say something like that to someone you don’t even like.”

“Get out of here!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I left the room and closed the door behind me.

…Phew. That was close!

I almost kissed her for real.

I really was about to press my lips against Yukina’s soft-looking ones. But thanks to her crying, I snapped out of it.

And what’s with her, accepting it like that? If you really like someone, you should kick them away or something… idiot.

Yukina’s face is still burned into my memory.

Just thinking about it makes me feel hot.

Seriously, what was I doing? That’s not like me at all…

Thinking back on everything, I felt embarrassed, and my heart pounded loudly in my chest.

“I guess I shouldn’t do things I’m not used to.”

Lying down on the sofa, I quickly fell asleep.

It had been a very exhausting day.