Chapter 135 - Twelve Trials
But how am I supposed to get on her good side?
Having spent my adolescence in another world, I don't quite understand these things called young Japanese women.
After all, what the women over there found pleasing was either:
"Showing off one's strength," "Appealing through deep religious faith," or "Giving gifts."
As expected of a medieval European-style world. Their views on men and women felt very much like people from the old days.
In contrast, Ayako-chan is a girl born in the twenty-first century, who demands political correctness in whatever she does.
She has surely been taught gender equality since the moment she was born.
So, I thought, how about offering to help with the dinner preparations?
But when I stepped forward to offer,
"...Nakamoto-san, it's fine if you just sit down."
I was flatly rejected.
Come to think of it, she seems to find her identity in performing housework, so it might be better to just leave it to her.
Or is doing nothing like this exactly the kind of landmine behavior that triggers her?
For the time being, while folding the laundry, I try to steal glances at Ayako-chan's profile.
...She is tinkering with a frying pan while wearing a gentle smile.
I can't read her inner thoughts at all.
Is she actually planning to beat me and Angelica to death with that frying pan? Or will she come at us with a kitchen knife?
While I was trembling in fear, time simply passed, and before I knew it, dinner was ready.
Yakisoba for four people. It was a very common taste, but it wasn't bad.
Rather, it was delicious.
The fact that she can manage proper cooking even in that mental state might be something amazing.
"...Thank you for the meal."
After finishing a dinner that felt like a funeral, we began preparations for the move.
We washed the used dishes and cooking utensils, packed them into cardboard boxes, and even disassembled the beds to stuff them into boxes as well.
Normally, you'd call a moving company... but this is where my brute strength comes in handy.
"Heave-ho."
I hugged a multitude of cardboard boxes and cast Concealment Magic on myself.
"Since we were able to return earlier than expected, I decided we'll move today."
The reactions of the women were three different things.
Angelica was honestly frolicking, saying, "Wow, a new home! A new home!", while Philia was staring into space.
And as for Ayako-chan, she remained motionless, staring intently at me with eyes that lacked any highlight.
Since attempting to search for her mental state through her expressions any further would be futile, I held my luggage and jumped out the window.
Actually, the new property is incredibly close to here.
It's a condominium located just across the park that sits next to our apartment.
It's a 2LDK, and while the rent jumps up, the livability improves dramatically.
The way an apartment that can only be described as being for the poor and an upper-middle-class condominium are clustered in such a narrow area is truly a society of disparity.
After all, you see, the children living in their respective properties might be playing together in the same park.
I found myself having various petty imaginings, like how even if they don't care while they're small, they might eventually grow apart because their parents' standards of living are different.
...Standard of living, huh.
That's the thing.
Since Ayako-chan is the daughter of a university professor, she should have been living quite well.
I thought so when we trespassed into her house during the split incident; she had a collection of expensive-looking furniture.
While not quite an ojou-sama, she comes from a family slightly above the middle class.
If she's been living a modest life like something out of an old folk song with me, I thought that her frustrations must be piling up...
Of course, that's not the only reason, or rather, it's mostly because I went to a love hotel with Angelica, but there's no doubt I've been giving her stress without realizing it.
I have a premonition that if I don't settle things before a massive eruption occurs, it's going to become a serious problem.
Like, a sudden slash to the wrist in my room...
While my unsettling imagination expanded, I continued to shuttle back and forth between the condominium and the apartment.
In less than thirty minutes, the moving of the belongings was finished, so I returned the apartment key to the landlord.
Next, it's time for the humans to move.
We moved together to the condominium across the way, leaving the dilapidated apartment behind.
"Wah! The new house is so spacious!"
Our new residence is an eight-story collective housing unit. The room I moved into was, once again, a corner room on the second floor.
That said, the size is on a different level from before; in addition to a living room integrated with the kitchen, there are two western-style rooms.
With a balcony where plenty of laundry can be hung and two closets added to this, Ayako-chan must be overjoyed.
I hope so.
May it be so.
As I observed her while praying, Ayako-chan began to unpack things busily.
Angelica started helping a little later. Philia is... playing by wrapping herself in the curtains.
When young girls move around, it feels like the room itself gets perfumed just by their presence. I wonder what's actually going on with their bodies. Is there perfume stuffed deep inside their sweat glands or something?
No, this is no time to be having creepy imaginations.
Pulling myself together, I joined in the unpacking.
I assembled the bed and arranged the table. Moving large items is my job... or so I thought, but Angelica's muscular strength is also quite high, so she was picking up the TV with one hand.
When a delicate girl does something like that, there's an incredible gap.
In that regard, Ayako-chan's arm strength stays within the level of an average girl, so she's acting quite much like a girl, struggling as she tries to lift the microwave.
"It's okay, I'll do that one."
Did I manage to earn a few points?
"...Thank you."
I don't really understand what a seventeen-year-old girl is thinking.
It's a complete mystery.
"...Um. You remember, don't you, Nakamoto-san?"
"Eh?"
"Tonight at ten-thirty. We're meeting at the park next door."
"A-Ah. That. Of course I do. There's no way I'd forget my promise to you, Ayako-chan."
"...I see."
While I was trembling, wondering if she was still angry, Ayako-chan softly whispered in my ear.
"...I know what you did with Angelica-san today..."
The end of her sentence was trembling.
As expected, I replied in a low voice.
"Ayako-chan is almost certainly misunderstanding. I just turned into a baby. There's no way I'd be in a relationship with her."
"You don't have to tell such an obvious lie... It's fine. Really. It's my fault too."
"No, Ayako-chan, nothing you did was wrong..."
"...Because I lacked the initiative... Nakamoto-san was taken away from me..."
"What do you mean by that?"
"...This."
This.
While whispering in a voice that sounded like it might vanish, Ayako-chan shoved a palm-sized box into my pocket.
"W-What's this? Judging by the size, is it cigarettes?"
"...It's fine. If you use it all up tonight, I'll forgive you. Then, everything will be even..."
"...Is this a Consumable?"
Ayako-chan nodded repeatedly. Was it my imagination that her cheeks were flushed?
Becoming frightened by the sheer suspiciousness of it, I secretly headed to the toilet.
It was to confirm the true nature of the box.
I locked the door and fumbled through the contents of my pocket.
Then, what came out was...
A silver box with '0.02' and 'Ultra-thin Experience' written on it.
It was a pack of twelve contraceptives.