Chapter 16: Do You Like House Visits?　２

“Well… by the time I finish eating, he should have replied, right!”

Muttering to convince herself, Hachiya heated up some frozen food. Her parents were executives at a large company, so dinner was usually frozen meals, pre-made dishes by her parents, or takeout.

She quickly transferred the heated food onto a plate.

“Thanks for the meal.”

Hachiya finished eating in a hurry and immediately returned to her room. The first thing she did was turn on her phone.

Ping!

“Ah!”

Reacting to the notification sound, she opened ‘Kaof’, but it was just the usual message from her parents saying they’d be home late.

“Haa……………………”

There was still no reply from Akaishi.

Tick… Tick…

The sound of the clock in her room felt unusually loud.

It had already been three hours since Hachiya sent that long, resentful message to Akaishi. The time was now 9 PM. Since she usually went to bed at 11, bedtime was approaching.

“He must have just missed it! He hasn’t even seen it yet!”

Desperately trying to convince herself, Hachiya opened ‘Kaof’ again.

“………………”

There was still no reply. The “Read” mark was clearly displayed.

“Haa…………”

Hachiya was deeply depressed.

“What do I do………………”

She was regretting what she had done.

“What do I do, what do I do…”

She repeated the same words over and over like a broken mechanical doll.

“What did I do wrong?”

The lack of any reply made Hachiya anxious.

“Maybe something happened while he was writing a reply…!”

A thought suddenly struck her.

“That’s right! That must be it! I have to call him right now!”

Thinking Akaishi might have collapsed in his room, Hachiya immediately called him.

Rrrring… Rrrring…

“Hello, Akaishi!”

Beep… Beep… Beep…

………………

The call connected.

Akaishi hadn’t been in an accident, nor was he dead.

………………

He hung up.

He answered and immediately hung up — before she could even say anything.

“……………………Why?”

Hachiya had never been treated like this by anyone before. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Why did Akaishi answer and then immediately hang up? Why won’t he reply? Why, why, why?

Tears overflowed, blurring her vision.

“Well… whatever, it doesn’t matter anymore. I like Sousuke anyway. He’s just a tool to help with my love life!”

Hachiya wiped her tears and spoke rapidly, trying to convince herself.

“………………………”

But she couldn’t brush it off.

Hachiya liked Sakurai. However, that didn’t mean she had a heart strong enough to calmly endure someone else’s malice.

She didn’t have romantic feelings for Akaishi.

But she had actually found it comfortable talking with him — someone who always responded rationally no matter what she said. Even if she couldn’t fully understand his rationalism, she liked that part of him.

She didn’t want to believe that Akaishi had grown tired of her.

“Hic…… Hic……”

Before she knew it, the tears she had tried to hold back were streaming down her cheeks.

Hachiya was a fragile girl.

Despite her sharp tongue, her heart was as delicate as glass. While she found it sad that he hung up immediately, she didn’t feel angry.

She used harsh words to protect her heart.

She used violence to protect her heart.

She convinced herself of convenient interpretations to protect her heart.

Over and over, she protected her heart.

Because if she didn’t interpret everything in a way that suited her, her delicate heart might break. That was how Hachiya had lived until now.

Thanks to her beauty, no one had ever criticized or harshly judged her. Everyone had always been considerate of her. But even she couldn’t interpret being hung up on in a positive way.

The accumulated unease made it impossible for her to convince herself that Akaishi had been kidnapped or something.

“Ugh…… Hic……”

Crying, Hachiya took a bath.

She had already given up hope of receiving a reply from Akaishi that night.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—

With lifeless eyes, Hachiya stood under the shower. Her gaze had lost its light as she replayed what she had done.

Even though she hated how Akaishi always stabbed at people’s complexes, she had done the same thing to him — saying he probably ate lunch alone in the toilet. She deeply regretted it.

Why did I say something like that? Hachiya reflected on herself.

She realized that although she had mentioned not having female friends in her angry message, the last time Akaishi teased her about it, she hadn’t actually denied it properly.

Maybe Akaishi didn’t actually know I don’t have any female friends…

She was filled with self-reproach for getting so angry. Maybe she had lashed out to suppress her own feelings. Why had she done that?

All kinds of emotions swirled in her chest.

Even though he had never explicitly said he had no friends, she had assumed Akaishi had none and mocked him for it. Despite liking Sakurai herself, she had been pushing all the burden onto Akaishi. She had denied not only his rationalism but also his social skills, autonomy, and even his humanity. Even though she was the one who liked Sakurai and was asking for his help, she had wrongly accused him of being jealous.

Countless regrets flooded Hachiya’s heart.

Lost in thought, she continued showering.

Why did I say those things?

Why did I invite him to my house tomorrow?

If she could turn back time, she wanted to do it right now.

She earnestly wished for it.

She wanted to turn back time and make everything undone.

That was Hachiya’s only wish.

She turned off the shower weakly, draped a towel over her dripping wet body, and returned to her room. Water droplets fell onto the floor with soft plops as she walked.

Hachiya glanced at her phone.

“………………No reply, right…………”

She let out a self-mocking chuckle, yet still picked up her phone.

Unsure whether she still held even a sliver of hope, she turned it on.

The time was 10:30 PM.

Ping!

A loud notification sound from ‘Kaof’ rang out.

Hachiya’s shoulders jumped at the sudden sound.

“Don’t get your hopes up, don’t get your hopes up…”

Narrowing her eyes nervously, she opened ‘Kaof’ and saw three replies from Akaishi.

“I did iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!”

Hachiya’s eyes sparkled brilliantly. She jumped up and down on her bed repeatedly, running around her room completely naked.

“I did iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!”

In the empty house, Hachiya loudly proclaimed her victory to no one in particular.

After running around for a while and finally calming down, she sat back on her bed. Brushing aside her dripping wet hair, she read Akaishi’s replies.

‘I eat lunch outside the classroom because I go with guys from other classes. I have friends.’

‘Maybe you’re right. Sorry. I’ll come tomorrow. Tell me your address.’

‘Also, sorry.’

They were short, business-like replies. Very different from her long emotional outburst, but Hachiya immediately began typing a response.

Excited that she had finally received a reply, her emotions were running high.

‘You’re so late replying! And why did you only send a few lines when I wrote so much!? That’s not fair! Also, you hung up on me right after picking up the phone! Why did you—’

She stopped typing halfway.

“This is the same as before……”

Stopping herself from repeating the same mistake, she deleted what she had written and started over.

‘I have a lot to say, but I’ll tell you tomorrow. I’ll call you tomorrow, so leave your house at 9.’

She had wanted to throw all kinds of curses at him, but in the end, she kept it business-like, just like Akaishi.

‘Got it.’

Akaishi replied with one short, indifferent line. Hachiya finished her remaining tasks and went to bed.

She felt relieved that she had finally gotten a reply from him, but one thing still bothered her.

‘Sorry’

Even though she knew she was the one at fault, Akaishi had apologized. Thinking about why he apologized made her chest feel tight, so she pushed it to the back of her mind.

Since Akaishi was coming tomorrow, she couldn’t oversleep. Using that as an excuse, Hachiya forced herself to close her eyes.

It took her many times longer than usual to fall asleep.

Chapter 16_ Do You Like House Visits