Vol 1 Chapter 3 – Surprisingly Domestic【Volume 1: The Road to Romance】

“Thanks so much — you’re a lifesaver.”

Warm from a proper bath, Shino settled onto the sofa with a soft, drowsy look on her face.

She was wearing Sandai’s clothes again.

It had been obvious she hadn’t brought a change of anything, so he’d handed something over without making it a whole thing — but this was, quietly, the second time.

“…That said.”

“Hm?”

“Your house is an hour away by train, right? I get that walking home isn’t an option, but… is it really okay? Staying at a guy’s place?”

“It’s fine. I told them I’m staying at a girlfriend’s.”

“That’s going to come back on you if anyone checks. And — why not actually stay at a girlfriend’s? You must have at least one friend who lives nearby.”

“I do, but… I didn’t want to impose.”

“So imposing on me is fine?”

“Th-that’s not what I—”

Shino pressed her two index fingers together, tip to tip.

The small, apologetic gesture took the edge right off him. He couldn’t have explained why.

“Whatever. More importantly — what are you doing about your uniform? If you just leave it to dry after getting soaked like that, it’s going to smell.”

“That’s true. …The cleaners won’t be open in this typhoon, will they?”

“Direct hit incoming — they’ll be closed. Even the 24-hour ones.”

“Yeah, figured. …Guess I’ll just do it myself.”

“Huh?”

“Do you have laundry detergent and a bucket?”

Could a gal actually do laundry? And more to the point — could you even wash a school uniform yourself?

Sandai tilted his head, skeptical, but handed both over without argument.

Shino immediately got to work in the bathroom, washing the uniform by hand with practiced efficiency.

“By hand though… I have a washing machine, you know.”

“Hand wash only. Have you ever looked at the care label on your uniform?”

“Care label?”

“Right here.”

He leaned in where she was pointing and looked at the small tag inside the collar. There was a little illustration of a hand dipped into a bucket.

“That means hand washing is okay. Machine wash is not.”

“…You actually know that. For a gal.”

“Gals not knowing how to do laundry — that’s a stereotype, you know.”

“S-sorry.”

“Ha. I’m kidding.” She smiled and kept scrubbing. “…Though honestly, your impression isn’t totally wrong for a lot of people. Not just laundry — housework in general. I do quite a bit, though. We’re not exactly a wealthy household, so between looking after my younger sisters and everything else, I just handle what I can when I have time. The part-time job is the same — figured I should earn my own spending money rather than ask.”

So she had her reasons. Between family circumstances and genuine necessity, Shino had built up a quietly capable domestic side that most people around her probably never saw.

It wasn’t what he’d expected.

“You’re pretty dependable.”

“…Yeah.”

Shino’s eyes softened. She smiled — small, and a little warm.

Depending on the angle, it looked like a smile from someone happy to hear it.

(…When she lets something like that show — something that honest, that unguarded — it makes me feel a little stupid for deciding to keep my distance because ‘that’s just how it is between us.’)

He reflected on himself, briefly, and didn’t like what he found.

Maybe it was time to stop treating that distance like a fact of nature.

As a first step — he offered to help with the washing.

For reasons he didn’t immediately understand, Shino’s face went completely red, and she refused.

“Hand washing looks like it takes some effort, I can at least—”

“—I-it’s fine, really!”

“You don’t have to say it like I suggested something offensive.”

“…I’m also washing my… mmph.”

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

“I said I’m washing my underwear too, so… please go away…”

Sandai glanced into the bucket.

Beneath the foam, something reddish was visible. The uniform wasn’t that color.

Which meant — underwear.

There was nothing strange about it. She’d been soaked to the bone when she showed up. Of course, her underwear was wet too. Of course, she’d wash it. It was completely logical.

So why hadn’t he thought of that before offering to help?

The embarrassment of not figuring it out sooner, mixed with the embarrassment of having actually looked, combined into something that climbed up his neck and into his face until he was almost certainly as red as she was.

“R-right… you were washing your underwear…”

“Y-yeah… I was washing my underwear…”

Sandai left the bathroom at the earliest opportunity.