When I Picked Up A Stunningly Gorgeous Downer-Type Beauty In Front Of The Entrance. - Chapter 6.1: I picked up an abandoned, near-death cat. And then, the tower of empty cans is thrown away. Part - 1.

I picked up an abandoned, near-death cat. And then, the tower of empty cans is thrown away. Part – 1.

We walked shoulder to shoulder from the supermarket on our way back home.

When I offered to carry the bags, Sajou-san gave me a blank stare with her emotionless, jet-black eyes, but eventually handed me the bags without saying a word. I couldn’t decipher their inner thoughts, but I chose to interpret it as her relying on me.

Maybe she’s just getting annoyed with the situation.

Under the thinly clouded, pitch-black night sky,

We walked towards the apartment, relying only on the flickering streetlights. During that time, we didn’t exchange a single word, silently treading the asphalt road filled with tranquility until we reached the apartment.

We opened the auto-locked entrance and both got into the elevator.

We were on the same floor.

I stood in front of the buttons, while Sajou-san leaned against the back wall, just staring blankly at the increasing numbers.

And then, the 6th floor.

Like characters in an RPG, we got off the elevator side by side.

The common corridor of the apartment wasn’t that long. Before we even took ten steps, we arrived at Sajou-san’s front door.

“Well then,”

As I tried to hand her the bags, I noticed something strange about Sajou-san’s behavior as she stood in front of the door, frozen with no movement.

The expression on their face, visible from the side, was full of resentment and disgust.

Is there something at the entrance?

A sign or something. Something that could be judged just by looking at it.

Until now, from the supermarket onwards, although her mood wasn’t great, she hadn’t shown such clear disgust. What changed was the moment we reached the entrance. Her expression changed so dramatically, it could be called a complete transformation.

So, thinking that there might be something unsettling Sajou-san, I avoided her gaze, and peeked around her body, checking the entrance. …And there it was.

A small pouch hanging on the doorknob.

Apart from that, it was no different from the entrance to my own room, so I understood that it was something shaking up Sajou-san’s mind.

“…”

She bowed her head slightly and grabbed her forearm.

The grip was so strong that it created deep wrinkles in her clothes, and veins bulge on the back of their hand.

And her eyes, like the ones I saw on a rainy day once, were vacant, as if they had given up on everything.

To me, they looked like a cat abandoned and on the verge of death.

“…mm”

I scratched my head. I struggled with how to address her .

However, although I carefully chose my words, what I had to do remained the same as before.

Because I couldn’t pretend not to see. If I looked away for even a moment, her body might grow cold. The fate of a dying cat, anyone could imagine.

That’s how precarious she seemed right now.

Whether it was sympathy or hypocrisy.

Either way, it was better than doing nothing. So, I raised my voice as if to dispel the awkward atmosphere.

“Sajou-san.”

“…What?”

“Um…”

My words got stuck. But I managed to squeeze them out.

“Would you like to stay over?”

Inviting a woman is a first-time experience for me. My heart beats loudly, and unwelcome sweat trickles down my back.

I feel like we’ve grown closer since the first time I invited her to my place. However, it seems like the closer we’ve become, the more nervous I’ve become.

I don’t have any base motives… but she won’t misunderstand, right?

I gulp and wait for Sajou-san’s reaction.

Sajou-san, turning back with slow movements, had a face like a lost child.

With her dark, black eyes, she stared at me silently. And without saying anything, she simply nodded slightly with a childish and innocent gesture.

On this day, for the first time in my life, I ended up spending a night with a woman.