When My Younger Brother Stole My Girlfriend, I Began Living Together with My Beautiful Childhood Friend Almost As If We Were Married - Chapter 24

Episode 24: Let’s Skip Because We Overslept

Waking up to the sound of the neighbor’s vacuum cleaner, I sat up in bed.

Geez, what time does this person think it is? Making such a racket with the vacuum cleaner from seven in the morning is something they should refrain from.

Next door, Reina, in her half-naked state, grimaces and rolls over in bed. Well, considering I hardly ever wake up in the morning, the noise must be quite unpleasant for Reina too.

I sigh at the troublesome neighbor and pick up my smartphone…

“Huh.”

Whoever said it was 7:00 in the morning? It’s already 9:30.

The neighbor was vacuuming at a perfectly reasonable time. I should apologize internally for grumbling without reason.

But more importantly…

“I have my first class today.”

I’m already thirty minutes late. Even if I start heading there now, I’ll be almost an hour late, and I’ll probably be marked absent.

I wonder if Reina doesn’t have a first class.

Feeling anxious, I shake Reina’s shoulder to wake her up.

“Reina, wake up, wake up.”

“Mmm… Hayato…? Good morning…”

In her drowsy state, she emits a cute voice and clings to me like a scarf around my neck.

Her actions make my heart flutter, but I quickly remember the current situation and show her the time on my smartphone.

“The time, the time! Reina, do you have your first class today?”

“…I have a data science class.”

It seems like it had quite an impact.

Reina chuckled awkwardly, realizing what she had done.

Well, both of us are late for our first class.

“Sigh. Hey, Hayato.”

“Hmm?”

“Today, how about we skip together and laze around at home?”

Reina proposes a sweet, devilish temptation.

Honestly, I’m surprised that Reina is suggesting such a thing. I had the impression that she would insist on going even if it meant being late.

But skipping, huh? Yeah, why not?

After the first class, there’s the third one, and it’s too much trouble to go just for that. Although right after waking up, I think about the same thing every day.

Also, perhaps due to overusing my arm in yesterday’s bowling, there’s still a bit of muscle soreness lingering.

I’ve just started attending, so I have plenty of attendance credits to spare, and occasionally skipping might not be a bad idea.

“Alright, let’s skip. We’ll get serious tomorrow.”

“Me too.”

We huddle together under the blanket.

Once you decide to skip, there’s only one thing to do. Double down on sleep!

It feels so good to indulge in the luxurious nap until around noon or some random time, wrapped in warm blankets.

Since I buried my head in the blanket, the dense air, mingled with the scent of both Reina and me, envelops my whole body.

I’m not sure if it’s drowsiness or the comforting scent of a lover, but my eyelids start to droop soon.

However, just before falling asleep, Reina wraps her arms around my waist, snuggling closer. So, before slipping into slumber, I open my eyes slightly and gently stroke her silky hair.

“Hehehe…”

“You look so sloppy.”

“I only show this face to you, Hayato.”

“It feels special, and I’m happy about that.”

Touching Reina’s hair seems like a privilege reserved mostly for me. This feels nice.

As Reina closes the distance even more, her soft chest presses against me through our clothes, and our cheeks touch lightly.

I feel Reina’s gentle breath on my ear.

“Wake me up later.”

Whispered close to me, soon, I heard the soft sound of her breathing.

I stroke Reina’s head again, adjust our positions so she won’t feel uncomfortable, and then drift into sleep.

As my vision fades into darkness, the sounds also blend into silence as if our two breaths had become one.

―Ding-dong

The sound of the doorbell rings, abruptly waking us up.

Well, we were woken up by a visitor in the morning.

Who could it be? If it’s mail, they should leave it in the mailbox, so it must be something else.

I have no idea who it could be. But I can’t pretend to be not home, so reluctantly, I get out of bed and head out of the room.

Just as I open the door, the doorbell rings again. When I check the time, it’s almost twelve o’clock.

“Reina Iwasaki! It’s the post office!”

The voice calling out Reina’s name from the entrance was audible.

Although I hesitated whether it was appropriate for me to go out, I figured if I didn’t, there might be a missed delivery slip, leading to further inconvenience. So, for the time being, I opened the door to call out to Reina.

With that thought in mind, as I opened the door, I made eye contact with the postal delivery person.

“Are you Reina Iwasaki’s?”

“No, I’m not. She’ll be here soon, so could you wait for a bit?”

I bow to the delivery person and call out to Reina again.

Soon, Reina, dressed casually, rubs her eyes and comes down the stairs.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Here’s a registered mail for you. Could you please sign for it?”

Ah, that’s something I can’t sign for.

Reina casually signs for it and hands it over, and the delivery person bows and leaves.

I watch until he’s back on his motorcycle, then close the door.

“It’s from my sister. She’s sending us our living expenses.”

“I feel like we’re always relying on your sister for everything.”

“But once my sister moves in, we should do something in return. Anyway… Wow, there’s 500,000yen in cash inside.”

As expected, Reina’s sister is wealthy.

“Oh, I got an email. She also transferred 500,000 yen to my bank account.”

“A total of a million yen… It feels like our sense of money is going haywire.”

“Indeed. But don’t worry too much. We’re getting married soon, and once that happens, my sister will spoil us even more.”
“If I accept that, I feel like I’ll become a complete loser.”

Everyone probably dreams of a life where they don’t have to work, but when it actually happens, it feels like everything’s coming to an end, you know?

“Well then, since we’re up, let’s have lunch. Hayato, what do you feel like eating?”

“I’m in the mood for rice.”

“Got it. I’ll just fry some eggs and sausages from the fridge then.”

As it’s time for lunch, preparations for breakfast-cum-lunch begin.

While Reina prepares the side dishes, I’ll change clothes first and then join her.