I’m not particularly good at housework, but I pride myself on being relatively decent for a high school boy. However, there was not a shred of that pride to be found in the current state of my room. All I could observe was dust accumulating in the corners.
Even my sister was not happy about this.
『Onii-chan, you’re a boy, so you don’t like me cleaning for you, right? But it’s too dirty to ignore, so please clean up properly.』
『I’m fine.』
『Don’t say that, I know you get a runny nose from house dust.』
『No, it’s pollen…』
『Please clean up.』
『Yes.』
She pressed me with an unprecedented sternness.
I’m not broken enough to maintain my sanity at true love distance with a monster, so I gently pushed her away and put some distance between us.
And so, here I am with a bag in my hand…
「When did it get like this?」
I might not have been aware of the symptoms, but it could have been about seven hundred years. That’s how dirty my room was.
I understand how Urashima Taro felt. He realized it because the village had changed, and I realized it because my room had succumbed to the law of increasing entropy. There’s no difference there.
It’s not quite to the point where there’s no place to step, but the floor is somewhat difficult to move on.
I throw away unnecessary items into a 45-liter garbage bag.
A sword keychain I can’t understand why I bought.
Notebooks from middle school full of doodles.
An eraser I had fun poking holes in.
Am I an elementary school student?
Surprised at how childish my sensibilities might actually be, I continued to store various obstacles into the garbage bag.
Eventually, my invasive hands reached under the bed, and when I casually inserted my shoulder, I felt a mysterious sensation at my fingertips.
「A cardboard box…?」
What I found was a cardboard box about the size of a comic book. It shows considerable age, with black spots visible here and there.
When I shake it near my ear, I hear a light “clattering” sound.
I didn’t recognize it. It’s not like it’s someone else’s possession, so there’s no need to hesitate. Let’s open it.
A puff of air, like a lump of nostalgia, invades my nose, making me cough reflexively.
As I wipe the tears from the corners of my eyes, the contents become clear.
「……This is.」
Pressed flowers, perhaps.
From their appearance, which could be either blue or purple, they seem to be asters.
They sit cutely in the box, made into a bookmark.
Judging by their appearance, quite some time must have passed.
I tilt my head for a while, but still don’t recognize them.
It’s probably something I made for fun when I was little.
I’m not particularly in need of a bookmark, so after putting it back in the box, I gently placed it in my desk drawer, thinking it would be a waste to throw it away.
「Cleaning is tough…」
I can’t thank my mother and sister enough for all the cleaning they’ve done for me until now.
I soothed my back, which had started to ache from crouching, and finished cleaning after about thirty more minutes.
Let’s keep it clean from now on.
I’m sure I’ll be thinking the same thing a month from now.
◇
「Adashino-san, I’d like to try going to karaoke.」
The lump of meat is lively as ever today.
──Light Novels──
──Read Here──
Kusakabe Nanaka, who is steadily establishing her position as a beautiful girl of the lump of meat type, approached me just as I was about to leave, slinging my bag over my shoulder, in the classroom that was starting to have a relaxed atmosphere after school.
Perhaps a bit nervous, her tentacles sway.
The way they wriggle is like a sea anemone.
I’m starting to worry that I might be seen as her lackey if I keep hanging out with Nanaka too much.
「Then go.」
「It’s scary to go alone, isn’t it?」
「I often go alone.」
It’s not that I don’t have friends.
It’s definitely not that I don’t have friends, but I do go to karaoke alone.
「Geez, do I have to say it?」
「Say what?」
「I’m saying “I want to go with Adashino-san”.」
Haha.
She’s saying things just like a heroine would.
I can’t stop my tears from this creeping threat.
I glanced around the classroom and confirmed I was indeed receiving jealous looks from the boys. She’s still considered a beautiful girl even in that form, after all.
By the way, there’s another reason why I’m not enthusiastic.
From Yuna, whom I walked home with yesterday,
『I’ll kill you if you lay a hand on Onee-chan.』
I received that message on my smartphone.
When a zombie says it, the impact is different.
She definitely had the determination to “do it”.
In kanji terms, it’s “殺る” (to kill). Scary.
However, Yuna has been somewhat mellow lately, so maybe it won’t be a problem if I go to karaoke with Nanaka.
Perhaps the Neolithic era has finally arrived for her too. From the Paleolithic era of eagerly sharpening stones, to an era of polishing them.
「Sure.」
「Yay!」
So I agreed without thinking too deeply.
Nanaka’s cute voice trembled, and her body swayed along with it.
The mysterious liquid glistens, reflecting the fluorescent light.
As we walked to the shoe lockers together, the cherry tree planted beyond the doors was about to shed all its blossoms.
Thanks to that, I realize. April is almost over, and May is coming.
…Come to think of it, in the language of cherry blossoms——.
Something caught in the corner of my memory, so I was kind of turning over the shelves of my brain.
「Adashino-san, Adashino-san.」
「Nnn.」
「I came from the countryside when I entered high school, so this will be my first time at karaoke.」
「Heeh.」
「Please lead the way, okay?」
「I can’t guarantee it.」
She dropped quite the bombshell. If you only heard “Please lead the way”, it sounds just like a boyfriend and girlfriend experiencing their first event together.
No, it seems it’s her first time going to karaoke, but how would our previous conversation sound to others? The answer came quickly.
Look. Thanks to that, the surrounding students are giving me incredible looks.
Tomorrow might not come for me.
Don’t think it’s always a moonlit night.