My Ex-Girlfriend’s Sister Ran Away to My Room, and We Can’t Stop Making Mistakes. - Chapter 25: Detox.

Detox.

I had her wash away the sticky mess from my lower body with the shower head. The sweat had soaked the sheets on the mat until it looked like I’d wet the bed.

“A cleansing of the heart-aru. A detox-ne,” Rinsu said proudly, wiping her own face with a towel.

“That feeling from the flour earlier… it was just a psychological effect-ne.”

“I guess that’s fine, then. No, actually, it’s not fine at all.”

She told me she wouldn’t take my money since it was “volunteer work,” so I ended up leaving without paying a single cent.

“Come back again-ne,” she added. “As a customer next time.”

By the time I stepped out of Chinese Carnal Samadhi, the world outside was shrouded in darkness.

I descended the subway stairs, blending into the rhythm of the crowd on my way home.

When I arrived, Mii was in the middle of preparing dinner. She was dropping chopped vegetables into a deep pot with heavy thuds.

“Welcome back. Where were you?”

The moment she saw my face, a look of visible relief washed over her.

“I was worried. You just ran out so suddenly.”

“My bad.”

“I waited at the shop and you didn’t come back; you weren’t here, either. You just wouldn’t come home.”

“I just went out to do some shopping. I remembered an urgent errand and… I was in a rush.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait… hold on a second.”

She grabbed my coat and leaned in, sniffing my hair and clothes like a bloodhound.

“Did you go again?”

“Go where?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. A brothel. You smell exactly like you did the other day.”

“No—”

“You went, didn’t you?”

In an instant, Mii’s expression flipped. She glared at me with piercing, razor-sharp eyes.

“What were you thinking?”

“What do you mean, ‘what was I thinking’?”

“I’m hurt. I don’t understand why you’d run away from me only to head straight to a brothel.”

“I didn’t go this time because I wanted to go to a brothel.”

“Then what did you go for?”

“That’s… well…”

I considered telling her the truth, but that seemed even more dangerous. I could only imagine how she’d react if I told her I’d sat there blindfolded while reminiscing about Ayumu.

“What did you do there? Don’t just stand there silent, tell me properly.”

“Detox.”

“So in the end, you still had someone finish you off.”

“Well, yes, but…”

“What are you even trying to say? Is the girl at that place really that cute?”

“She has big breasts.”

“Throwing what I don’t have in my face? That really pisses me off.”

She aggressively dumped a can of tomatoes into the pot. Red juice splashed up, speckling the kitchen wall.

“What are you making?”

“Minestrone. Don’t change the subject.”

“It’s also weird for you to try and do it in the middle of a shop.”

“So it’s fine as long as we’re at home? Fine, let’s do it right now.”

“That’s not it. Look, our relationship… it really is broken.”

“Broken?”

“It’s wrong.”

“Then, Saki-nii, how do you want us to be?”

She stirred the soup round and round. The murky, deep red liquid looked almost like thick, bubbling blood.

“What would it take to satisfy you?”

“I want you to be normal, Mii.”

“Normal?”

“Go to school. Make friends.”

“You mean go to university, get a job, have sex with some random guy I don’t know, and get married?”

“No, that’s not… I’m sorry.”

“Then what are you trying to say?”

“I want you to be happy.”

At the very least, she had to have better options than staying here with me. A life better than just drinking and having sex.

She added another can of tomatoes to the pot and began crushing them into a pulp with a spatula.

“That’s a better answer than before. But you’re still looking down on me.”

“I’m not.”

“You are. Give me the consommé.”

“Where is it?”

“Under the sink.”

She tore open the small packet of bouillon and sprinkled it into the pot. She put the lid on and clicked the stove off.

“I’m happy enough as I am right now.”

“A life of just drinking and sex makes you happy?”

“Yes, I’m happy. I don’t need anything more than this. If there’s one thing I’m dissatisfied with…”

She turned the tap. Cold water sprayed loudly into the sink.

“It’s that you aren’t happy, Saki-nii.”

“It doesn’t matter. All I have is my responsibility.”

“And what responsibility is that?”

“Ending this lifestyle as soon as possible. Returning to a proper relationship with you—without the sex.”

“And that’s why you went to a brothel to get off?”

“Yeah.”

In truth, I should never have held Mii. I didn’t have the right, nor the resolve.

“I… I can’t be with you, Mii.”

“You can’t?”

“No.”

“Then kick me out right now.”

“What?”

“Throw me out. Right this second.”

She ripped off her apron and slammed it onto the floor.

“There’s no way I can do that. Why are you so angry?”

“Because you ran away. Because you went to a brothel behind my back. Because you made me feel pathetic.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“What did they do to you today?”

“What do you—”

“What kind of play was it? They don’t do ‘the real thing’ there, right? So how do they do it?”

She looked at me, her eyes like needles. She took a step toward me, then another.

“Tell me. It’s fine, right? Since we aren’t ‘lovers’.”

“This is insane.”

“If it’s nothing, then tell me.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Fine. Then I’ll do it to you without the ‘real thing,’ too.”

“Wait, hold on—”

“I’m not waiting.”

Still in her apron, she reached behind my back. She moved her hands to my belt and made short work of the zipper.

The buckle of my belt sprang open with a sharp metallic click.

“Mii.”

“What?”

“This is wrong.”

“It isn’t.”

She reached out toward me.

“There isn’t a single thing that’s wrong about this.”

She knelt down and brought her face close.

“Like this?”

It was lukewarm. A fair bit cooler than the touch of her skin.

“Saki-nii, please be happy.”

“I can’t.”

“Be happy. Forget about the past. Don’t worry about the future.”

She had to know that was impossible for me.

The shadows were always chasing me.

“Everything you need is right here.”

“There’s nothing here.”

If there was anything at all, it was only sweet temptation.

“…Ngh.”

Her breathing, and the blood pulsing rhythmically beneath my skin. A sticky, wet pleasure. Mii looked up at me from below, her thin hair, tied back in a single ponytail, swaying gently.

I closed my eyes.

I couldn’t move.

I opened my eyes.

She was playing curiously with her fingers, messing with the thick, viscous fluid that had smeared onto her face.