The Matter of Starting to Live Together With a Long-Time Friend From High School After Becoming a Working Adult

Several more weeks passed after that.

As for me, the daily routine continues without any particular incidents. Recently, I’ve been somewhat successful in increasing my workload, and I’ve been going to the publisher in Shinjuku more often.

That said, I haven’t become dramatically busier, so for people who work regular office jobs, I probably still seem like a slacker. It’s not like I’m wearing a suit or anything.

By the way, how many years has it been since I last wore a suit?

Since I quit my job, it’s already been over two years… time really flies by, doesn’t it?

The saying that the ten years after becoming an adult go by in the blink of an eye might actually be true.

It’s been almost four years already, but when I graduated from university, it felt like just yesterday. I used to think that four or five years during my student days were events from a long time ago.

Does this mean that I’ve grown older, thinking about things like this?

I still consider myself young, but there’s no denying that I’m in my thirties, and honestly, I can’t keep up with the carefree attitude of my student days anymore.

I do eat normally, but I can’t eat as greedily as I used to.

No, but am I actually the one who eats quite a lot?

I don’t drink alcohol at all in the first place. Instead, I make sure to eat plenty of rice. This morning, I even had natto rice for breakfast for the first time in a while.

In the morning, I usually have toast and fruit.

Rather, it started around last month—my eating habits began to change subtly.

I honestly do have some ideas. It’s a classmate named Arikura Migiwa, a woman with whom I have a long-standing, complicated relationship.

Ever since I lectured her about her eating habits, I started to think it was strange to just talk about it without doing anything myself. Although I’m not particularly being praised for it, I’ve become more conscious of it than ever before.

I have a hearty breakfast and a decent lunch—sometimes I skip it altogether. I often have a light dinner, but recently I’ve been eating well.

The trigger, of course, was Arikura.

We eat dinner that I made at one of our houses together—it’s become the weekend routine lately. Since she always happily says, “Delicious♪,” I can’t help but put extra effort into cooking.

Casually, over the past few weeks, my repertoire of dishes has increased quite a bit.

To be honest, I’ve already been practicing a few new dishes, and I’ve been secretly looking forward to the day I get to showcase her――

“She suddenly just stopped contacting me…”

I tried sending a message, and she said she would be busy for a while. So, I was told that the meeting would be postponed for now.

This is also an unavoidable situation.

Once I become a working adult, dealing with such things should be quite normal.

Moreover, considering how hard-working and successful Arikura is, it’s even more so. In fact, it might be quite surprising that she was able to spend time with me until now.

I can accept that itself, but… it feels a bit lonely.

Spending the weekend alone is nothing new for me, and if anything, it feels like I’ve just returned to the state I was in before reuniting with Arikura.

However, spending a weekend alone somehow felt oddly unsettling.

Has it become so natural to spend time with her?

At first, I thought, “How did this happen?” but before I knew it, my perspective had changed.

They say humans are creatures of habit, and it seems I was more so than I thought.

I never thought the day would come when I would have such thoughts.

――Ping♪

Just as I was thinking that, a message came in on my phone.

The screen displayed Arikura’s name. It’s unusual for her to send something on a weekday. Besides, she should be busy right now.

With that strange feeling, I opened the smartphone screen――

[“I’m tired.”]

Only those words were sent. Just in Hiragana, without even being converted.

Clearly strange.

Arikura usually never sent such a message. Even if she did, it was always in a bright and cheerful manner.

At least I can say that this is the first time someone has been this direct with me.

“…Yeah!”

I started moving. I couldn’t help but think that even spending time hesitating about what had happened was a waste.

I pause my work and shut down the PC. Then, I quickly change into my loungewear and prepare my phone and wallet.

And then I operated my smartphone and typed a message to Arikura.

[“I’m heading over there now. Wait for me!”]

Alright, this should be enough for the preliminary contact. It’s already night, but the trains are still running. I might not be able to go home until tomorrow.

I should go, fully prepared for that as well.

“Now――to battle!”

When I actually say it out loud, it really does get me pumped up. I lock everything up securely and hurry on my way to the station.

Even though it’s late at night, there are still a lot of cars. Well, whatever.

I hurried to the station as much as possible and, luckily, managed to catch the first express train. That said, it only made about a ten-minute difference to Meguro.

――I should arrive there around eleven-thirty, right?

When I checked the schedule on my phone, I realized it would take at least that long. There’s no choice but to stay over there.

If nothing happens, that’s good enough.

If the warehouse is inconvenient, I can just go to an internet café.

I just got on the train. I’ll arrive there in a little over an hour.

A few seconds after I sent the message, I received a reply from Arikura.

[“I’m waiting.”]

[“I miss you!”]

The series of messages that have been sent one after another clearly reflect the current state of Arikura.

It seems that coming out was indeed the right decision.

Wait for me, Arikura. This is Katase Ritsu, and I’m coming to you right away!

◇ ◇ ◇

And about an hour later—I had arrived at Meguro Station.

Fortunately, the train wasn’t delayed by any accidents, and I arrived smoothly. Since it was already late at night, there were significantly fewer people compared to during the day.

Anyway, let’s hurry and get through the ticket gate. As I was thinking that and walking――

“Hehehe~♪ Ah, I’m feeling absolutely fantastic~♪”

I could clearly hear the voice of a woman who was obviously drunk. I couldn’t help but stop and look, and there she was, a woman in a suit, with several men in suits.

――Wasn’t that the Kouhai from Arikura?

I only saw her once a few weeks ago, but somehow I feel that way. Did she really drink until this late?

If she thinks of it as a way to relieve work stress, I don’t think it’s particularly strange.

“Hey, hey, aren’t you drinking a bit too much?”

“That’s not true at all~♪”

A woman who seems to be a Kouhai is being taken care of by a man. With a happy, cat-like voice, she snuggles up to him—this is what they call “cunning,” isn’t it?

“Don’t you have work tomorrow too? Didn’t you say you were super busy?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve left the cleanup to Senpai♪ Thanks to that, I was able to leave right on time today too♪ It’s a piece of cake, haha♪”

Wow. What kind of despicable thing is she saying so brazenly? I’m an outsider, but I can’t help but feel sick to my stomach.

Speaking of which, that woman—she just said something that piqued my interest a bit.

Who is she pushing what onto?

Although the name hasn’t been revealed, could it be—

“…Let’s go home today. Is she close to here?”

“I heard that. Let’s put her in a taxi.”

“Yeah. Let’s wrap it up soon.”

The men around her were more decent than I had imagined, and I ended up feeling an inexplicable sense of relief.

Well, that’s not important. I need to hurry and get going too!

“About that story… I really hope it has nothing to do with them…”