Chapter 14

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Series: A Love That Lurks at the Dining Table

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Summer vacation had ended and September had begun, but it was still hot out. I was surrounded in a hallway I didn’t want to be in, leaning against the wall next to the classroom door, my phone in my hand while I listened to the girls talk.

“Oh yeah, remember the trip at the end of this month? I’m super excited for it! Are you off of work for it, Yousuke?”

“I don’t know yet. I have filming so I might have to come late or leave early. But I don’t think I’ll be there the whole time.”

“Really!? Aww~!”

I pretended to check my phone, fed up the their screaming that pierces my ears, and spied on Mizuka. She was staring at a cookbook at her seat next to the window.

When I first kissed her, she showed signs of being self-conscious around me, but she gradually got used to me again. It was good that she was comfortable around me, but she was too good at adapting.

“Hey, I noticed that Sasaki-san hasn’t been coming over here lately.”

“True~ I wonder why. Even though she was always ‘Yousuke this, Yousuke that’ before the end of vacation.”

“Right?”

The girls around me tilted their heads. Right now, Sasaki was talking with her friends. But unlike in July, her voice was low and she brought her shoulders closer to herself.

Two weeks had passed since the end of summer vacation, but Sasaki and the others didn’t seem like they were going to spread the word about what happened in the aquarium. Of course. It was because I denied what she said after she made jealous comments to her classmate. I stumbled upon an interesting revelation when I looked into punishing her like I did with Kawauchi, and I felt refreshed to know that I won’t have to see that face in a few more days.

“Oh, are you working, Yousuke?”

“No. I’m just cleaning up a bit. I have to delete some things because my phone has too much on it…” I said and opened a picture of Sasaki from a folder on my phone.

A video of her shoplifting played on my screen, but because of the reflection, no one around me could see. She wasn’t a model, but she was wearing brand-name clothes, which made me think that her parents had a lot of money. But they lived in a run-down house that was far from the station.

Then, I wonder when I should release this? I would like to use it at a time where it’s most effective.

“Oh.”

My eyes naturally turned to Mizuka once I heard her voice. She spoke in a whisper, so no one else noticed. I was worried about why she spoke up when I got a message.

“I swapped cleaning duty with Meina-chan today, so I’ll go to your house afterwards.“

I heard this morning that Maki fell over and ruined his bag, so Mizuka switched with Sonomura so she could go out to buy a new one with him. I could hear everything she said in the classroom, but it made me happy that she sent me a message.

“What is it, Yousuke? Do you have work? Can you not go on the trip?”

“I don’t know. It’s still up in the air.”

I often talked about trivial things with Mizuka at home. I couldn’t at school. There were people like Sasaki everywhere.

I don’t want to hurt Mizuka, I thought while staring at her, but then Kawauchi entered my line of sight.

“What are you reading, Igarashi? Is that a cookbook…?”

“Yep. It’s a book on nutrition.”

“Oh, so you’re interested in cooking… Now that I think about it, you seemed really skilled during cooking class.”

But if I broke Mizuka and she was too hurt to go to school, would that mean that she wouldn’t be around Kawauchi?

“Yousuke?”

I was snapped out of my thoughts and quickly put a smile on my face that showed nothing was wrong. The girls around me all looked concerned about me, but Mizuka’s gaze remained fixed on Kawauchi alone.

After I finished dealing with Sasaki, I should also make that guy disappear.

I swore that in my heart while talking about nothing in particular with the girls around me.

◆

“I’m glad it went so well…”

I breathed a sigh of relief, staring at Mizuka, who was sleeping from the effects of the sleeping pill I put in her chai tea. I turned down the air conditioner, draped the blanket I bought together with her in May over her, and kissed her eyelid.

“This really is useful… There are some people it doesn’t work on… But even though she said she was sturdy, it seems like she doesn’t have much of a tolerance to drugs. Mizuka…”

She stirred a little when I touched her nose, but didn’t show any signs that she was going to wake up. The sleeping pills I prepared to kiss her were really useful. But since they worked so well, I would have to adjust the dosage for next time.

“But, you really are so cute… If you don’t hurry and wake up, I’m going to lock you up. Is that fine…? Even if you never get to go outside again…? Well, Mizuka…?”

I licked her eyelids, kissed her cheeks, touched her lips, and even put a finger in her mouth, but she didn’t show any signs of waking. Even though I touched her so much, I never got sick of it. More like, watching the rise and fall of her chest while she defenselessly slept got me terribly excited. I wanted to do something to her. I wanted to take her by force.

I lightly chewed Mizuka’s cheek, and it was so soft I had the desire to bite some off. Aah, she’s so cute. But, I didn’t put her to sleep just to touch her today. I needed to finish dealing with Sasaki before she woke up. She took Mizuka to the back of the school building, confronted her, and even sent her a message.

It was a good thing that I was monitoring all the messages she got, and if my timing was just a bit wrong, then she would have seen the threatening message sent to her.

So I won’t sit around choosing the means anymore. I needed to immediately go to school and play the part of Yousuke, nervous about his drama and someone who coincidentally witnessed Sasaki shoplift.

“I’ll go and when you wake up next, you can be relieved in knowing that Sasaki will no longer be at school.”

I grabbed Mizuka’s hand and squeezed it.

I loved this hand too. I could feel how soft and warm her hand was. When I brought her hand up to touch my cheek, she suddenly smiled.

“Don’t smile like that, or I’ll do something worse and scarier.”

I licked her cheek and Mizuka innocently laughed from something in her dream.

It wasn’t a lie that I wanted to protect her smile. I wanted to be nice and make her happy. But I also wanted to drive her to a corner, make it so she couldn’t live without me, destroy her reasoning, steal everything and devour her. Those two conflicting emotions were mixed together. I wanted her so badly that I couldn’t stop wanting her. In the end, I just wanted her by my side. But my emotions kept cycling. Endlessly.

When I lightly pinched her cheek, she opened her mouth a little. It looked like she was smiling again, and it made my heart ache.

“I’m sorry that someone like me loves you.”

I could only confess to her when she was sleeping. I knew it wasn’t fair, but I couldn’t help it. I apologized, but I knew if another opportunity presented itself, I would do the same thing I did today.

“Hurry and fall in love with me, Mizuka. Before I kill you.”

I was truly filled with only selfish thoughts. I let go of Mizuka’s cheek and left.

◆

“Oh my god! Sasaki-chan got expelled for shoplifting!”

It was five days later. The classroom was in an uproar when I arrived. The fact that Sasaki got expelled had already been spread through the class group messages. But it just happened that a loud girl witnessed her getting scolded by the principal directly.

I didn’t do anything special. Yesterday I just happened to have cleaning duty, but since I had work, I asked a group of cheerful girls to switch with me. I didn’t spread the word myself and I never even mentioned Sasaki in my group messages.

“I never thought there would be a serial shoplifter in our class… She didn’t seem like the type so I was really surprised.”

I casually glanced at Mizuka while saying that. Even though Sasaki was gone, she didn’t look happy. Or more like, she hasn’t seemed well since the day she stayed at my house. She must have been shocked about Sasaki, but I felt like there was a different reason for her low spirits.

“…Hino.”

As I was wondering, I heard someone call me from the hallway. I was shocked when I turned to see Maki.

“What do you need, Maki-kun?”

“The teacher needs you.”

The girls around me reacted to Maki’s words before I could. They asked things like, “Is everything okay, Yousuke…?” “Want me to go instead?”

“It’s fine. I’ll go.”

I smiled and stepped out of the classroom. Since the air conditioners were off last week, the hallway was unbearable from the heat and no one stuck around, but a cool autumn breeze was blowing in from the windows today so students stood around, some with cell phones in their hands.

“What does the teacher need with me?”

Maki walked with a languid pace, his bangs covering his face. According to Sonomura, he liked to conserve his energy, but he just seemed sick. He caused an explosion during cooking class the other day, like something from a manga. Since Mizuka was good friends with Sonomura, that meant that she was closer to Maki, so I’ve been worrying that she was in danger.

“Umm… I forgot… Hmm, well, you’ll find out when you get there, right?”

His vague answer pissed me off. After walking for a while, Maki turned in a completely different direction from the staff room. I asked him if he turned the wrong way and he replied that he was going the right way. I wondered if I should grab him by the arm and drag him to the staff room, but since Mizuka and Sonomura were friends, I couldn’t do that.

“Where are we going, Maki-kun?”

“You made Sasaki disappear, right?”

Maki, who was previously walking with a sickly, hunched posture, turned around and looked at me. He always had a lazy look in his eyes, but now his gaze was clear. I furrowed my brow.

“…What are you saying, Maki-kun?”

“I heard you in the staff room past eight PM. About seeing a student shoplifting.”

“Oh, you saw it. But I was worried about my dra…”

“You put an app on Igarashi Mizuka’s phone. Spyware that disguises itself as an app that reduces battery.”

His matter-of-fact tone made me uncomfortable and I looked around, only to see no one around. Almost like he set it up.

“What do you want?”

“Sonomura Meina’s piece of mind is related to Igarashi Mizuka’s mental stability.”

“……What?”

“If you catch Igarashi Mizuka, then Meina won’t have to worry about her and her everyday life won’t be disturbed.”

“I am trying to get her, but… Actually, how do you know what’s on her phone?”

“I know because it’s causing a strange interference with Meina’s phone. It’s not something I recommend because it drains battery power. I’m surprised she hasn’t deleted it by now.”

Usually, it was normal for him to be too lazy to speak, but now he was speaking clearly, like a completely different person. Surely, Sonomura would be the one Mizuka goes to when she’s anxious or hurt. Although it was unpleasant, I couldn’t be Mizuka’s girl friend. But why was he telling me this? Why not just keep Sonomura Meina away from Mizuka?

“I don’t really want anything to happen that results in bloodshed. Those two were already friends in April. And now the leaves are changing already. Since this is a delicate time for Meina, I don’t want anything bad to happen.”

“‘Delicate’…”

“Kawauchi or someone like that is fine. I’ll even help you. But since Igarashi Mizuka is Meina’s friend, if you want to do anything to her, I’ll get in the way for the rest of the year.”

“I have no reason to kill Mizuka. Things are going well.”

“Love and hate go hand in hand. You may have certain expectations, but the shock of betrayal can be intense. Well, that’s obvious, since–“

—Your feelings for Igarashi Mizuka are much stronger than they were in April.

My eyes widened.

I loved Mizuka. But the reason I was having these thoughts were because she wasn’t looking at me. I think I liked her so much I was crazy from the beginning. If I liked her any more, I would finally lose my mind.

“Don’t kill her. Well, at the very end you probably won’t be able to control yourself, so this might have no meaning, but… please.”

Maki bowed and returned to the classroom. It’s true that Mizuka and I were far apart right now. But things were going well. Sasaki was gone and Mizuka even stayed over at my house. She’s not the type of girl that would stay over at a guy’s house she didn’t care about. I’ve earned her trust.

You may have certain expectations, but the shock of betrayal can be intense.

But those words wouldn’t leave my head. I clasped my palms together to squash the frustration, annoyance, and other unidentifiable emotions.

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