Chapter 5

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TL: Single TL Translations

Chapter 5

“Oh yeah, Yuki’s friend, would you like some too?”

Tooru began to talk to Aoi while leaning on the table. While I know that like me, he’s not shy of strangers and talks to just about anyone, but I’m still shocked. He’s a good person, but recommending tequila to someone he just met, is he an idiot?

“Um, I, that’s…”

Aoi was asking me for help with her eyes, so I put my hand on her shoulders, pulled her towards me and replied for her.

“She won’t drink it. Aoi’s weak to alcohol and recommending a girl tequila, are you an idiot?”

“You drink it, don’t you? Ah!! I forgot, you don’t belong in the same category as girls.”

“To think I would hear that from you. So annoying.”

“Yuki, are you okay?”

I ignored Tooru and nodded multiple times to the girl who anxiously asked me.

“I’m fine, I haven’t drank that much yet.”

Tequila was poured in the shot glass. Sigh, I can drink it, but I don’t like the taste and it’s easy to get drunk with this. However, since it’s come to this, I have to drink it.

“Here, lime.”

Shouta put a lime on the glass as well. Since he’s thoughtful, after thanking him, he started to talk to Aoi. While feeling thankful towards him, I took the shot glass and toasted with Tooru, drinking the tequila in one go. I immediately bit and sucked the lime because of the intense flavor and stimulus of the tequila

“Ahhh, awful, this is awful.”

“Tequila you haven’t had in a long time tastes great! Do you want to drink more?”

Tooru took the lime from his mouth in put it in the glass without his complexion changing a single time. I forgot this guy’s in a different league. I’m fine since I haven’t drunk that much today, but if I honestly try to keep him company, I’ll die.

“No, it’s fine. Just obediently drink.”

“C’mon. Oh yeah, that reminds me, there’s a good yakitori* restaurant near the bar we went to last time, you wanna go there next time? Rather, the mom* of the bar has been noisy telling me to bring you there again, it seems she fell in love with your way of drinking, Yuki.”

*yakitori – a restaurant that sells chicken/meat grilled on a skewer. It’s really good, you should try it.

*mom of the bar – what they call the bar proprietress in Japan (usually used for girls or gay effeminate guys)

“The one from last month, huh, sounds good, let’s go. My memories from that day are blurry, but that mom was also pretty crazy too.”

“That mom was intense, wasn’t she?”

On that day, me and Tooru went to the mix bar his friend goes to and I drank a ton then collapsed. It was fun, but, well, it’s something that always happens. That effeminate gay mom often takes a liking to girls who drink a lot, so I’m scared that I’ll be smashed because of that.

The conversation became lively and we talked about stories that happened while drinking and more recent things, while conversing, the live piano performance finished. Once I took notice, I looked at my watch and saw that while it wasn’t time for the last train, it was still late at night. I guess it’s time to leave. I need to properly get Aoi back home.

“Tooru, I should leave soon. Let’s go drinking again, just contact me.”

“Alright, next time then! I’ll contact you.”

I neglected Aoi for a while since Tooru came by. Aoi was talking to Shouta, but I felt bad since we finally met up.

“Aoi, sorry for leaving you alone. We should leave soon, is that alright?”

“Huh, yeah, okay.”

“Shouta, the check.”

Aoi’s face is still red and her eyes appear drowsy. Looks like she’s drowsy from the alcohol. I took the check from Shouta and paid for the drinks, telling Aoi that this was my treat. She didn’t drink much, and this is also a thank you for last time.

“Yuki, I’ll feel bad, so I’ll pay too.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.”

I smiled at her after receiving the receipt to which she muttered thank you. I took our luggage from Shouta and left the bar after saying goodbye. My body was freezing from the cold night wind.

“Aoi, you can grab onto my arm. Can you walk?”

“Hm, I can hold your arm so it’s okay.”

“Alright, the stations close, hang in there.”

I was worried as she grasped my arm tightly and walked unsteadily, but it’s okay since we’re partly going the same way. While walking slowly, I sidelong glanced at Aoi, her red face and drowsy eyes were very cute. I apologized about today.

“Aoi, I’m sorry. I didn’t talk with you that much. The person who came later on is someone I often drink with, he’s a good guy, but is really strong with alcohol so I regularly get smashed.”

“…”

“Aoi?”

Even though I called out to her, she was silent, and I couldn’t see her expression because she lowered her head. I then felt her grip on my arm become stronger.

“…I wanted to…talk with you more…”

“Huh? Um, yeah, you’re right. Sorry, next time let’s have a good time with just us. Aoi, you’re a little shy of strangers, so you were troubled, weren’t you? I chose the wrong place to go.”

This time was my bad. I knew Aoi is shy of strangers and weak with alcohol, that bar wasn’t a good idea. She probably doesn’t like having fun with a bunch of people, Aoi’s the type that would rather play around with a few people. I’ve always hung out by drinking for long periods, so meeting up like this is something I haven’t done for a while, when I was regretting the fact that I wasn’t paying enough attention to Aoi, she suddenly stopped walking. Did I possible anger her?

“Aoi?”

“Yuki… um… by any chance… are you… free… tomorrow?”

“Huh, tomorrow? Umm, yeah. I am free, but wha-what’s happening tomorrow?”

I became nervous by the fact that she asked in a nervous tone while increasing the strength of her grip on my arms. I can’t seem to understand what she’s trying to say. I peered at her lowered head and saw the anxious expression, but I didn’t know what the best thing to do was. At that moment, Aoi said in a small voice.

“Do you want to stay over tonight?”

That was a little anticlimactic. I thought about various things, but I guess there was no need to worry. She was probably anxious I would refuse this request. From my silence she lowered her gaze and muttered sadly ‘just as I thought, a no’ with moist eyes, therefore I lightly embraced her. I gently caressed her head to stop her from crying. This girl is so adorable.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ll stay over today. Since we didn’t talk much, let’s talk a lot, alright? I also want to talk with you about many things.”

“O…Okay.”

I was relieved because after I gently stroked her and slowly separated, I wiped her tears with my finger and muttered to her repeatedly that it was okay, she nodded her head.

When we rode the train, Aoi slept for a bit. This was because she was dozing off when we got on the train, so I told I’ll wake her up when we reach the station, so she can sleep for a bit. It’s the weekday and the train wasn’t busy, I waited quietly until we reached the closest station to her house, trying not to wake Aoi as she was leaning against my shoulder and sleeping.

“Aoi, we reached the station.”

When I gentled shook her, she responded with a tired ‘okay,’ she then woke up and we got off the train and left the ticket gate. The current time was a little before 12 A.M., there weren’t many people walking around right now.

“It’s cold, Yuki, let’s stop by the convenience store.”

“Okay.”

On the way to Aoi’s house, we stopped by the convenience store and bought a lot of things before heading to her house once again. By that time, it seemed like Aoi’s drunkenness subsided.

“I’ll be intruding*.”

*I’ll be intruding – what people usually say when entering someone else’s house in Japan. It’s considered good manners/polite.

“Yes, welcome.”

When I put the luggage on the table and sat down, Aoi hung my coat on a hangar. Her face is still slightly red, but it seems like she’s not as sleepy anymore. I was relieved from the bottom of my heart that she didn’t feel sick.

“Yuki, can you take a shower first?”

“Huh, is that okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll lend you both a towel and some clothes so use those.”

I went to take a shower as Aoi told me to. I was able to quickly take a shower as I had short hair. After I finished, I wiped my body with the towel she prepared and changed into the sweatshirt and pants. I lazily dried my hair while Aoi took a shower, borrowed the skin products to use, and then brushed my teeth.

I then remembered the towel I planned to give to Aoi. I can’t leave without giving this to her and if I don’t give her this now, I’ll forget. I took out the cute looking wrapped package from my bag, put it on the table and waited for her to finished showering. But, I lied down on the table since I was kind of sleepy.

“Hey, Yuki? You’ll catch a cold.”

I felt something weird on my cheek, so I suddenly opened my eyes to see Aoi in her pajamas poking my cheeks. So, I slept, but be that as it may, she was watching my sleeping face. When I got up, I heard a giggle.

“Sorry, I slept.”

“No, it was cute. Oh yeah, do you want to drink the water we just bought?”

“Yours is cuter. Also, yeah, I’ll have some.”

“Huh… ah, okay… here.”

Aoi who was just laughing shyly averted her eyes. It seems like Aoi has trouble talking when she’s embarrassed or troubled. I drank one gulp of water and put it on the table and then handed her the wrapped package I just took out.

“Here, Aoi, I’m giving it to you. It’s the towel from last time.”

“Huh? You were serious? You didn’t have to…”

A surprised Aoi. She really is a kind person.

“It’s fine, just use it. I bought a cute one I think you’ll like. Or maybe you don’t want it?”

“T-That’s not true! I’m happy. Thank you.”

If I say it like this, according to Aoi’s personality, she would take it and as expected she said ‘thank you’ in a fluster and accepted it. Though, it feels like I exploited her, but since I ruined her towel from before I’m just glad she accepted it. Aoi also seems happy with it so it’s all okay.

“Let’s sleep, Yuki.”

“Yeah, we should.”

Looking at my watch, it was past 1 A.M. No wonder I’m sleepy. I turned off the lights and went on the bed first, Aoi followed right after. Aoi’s bed smelled like her, but the scent of Aoi who came to the bed was even better, so I unconsciously brought my face closer to her. There was slight movement from Aoi who was facing my way, but I wrapped my hands around her waist to keep her from escaping.

“Aoi, you smell good. I’ve thought about it before, but you really smell good. What perfume do you use?”

“Huh? Y-You surprised me… It’s a normal one. I don’t know if it’s famous or not, though.”

“I see… somehow, you smell so good it makes me feel at ease. Mmm, it’s completely different from mine, but I like it.”

It’s a slightly sweet vanilla scent, but it’s not too sweet to the extent where it’s unpleasant. I like the more men’s-like refreshing scent rather than the sweet girl’s-like scent, but this might become a habit. When I put my face towards her chest it felt like I was surrounded by that scent and so I unconsciously increased the strength of my hands that were around her waist.

“Mm, geez, what’s wrong?”

“I feel happiness from being surrounded by your smell, Aoi.”

“That’s kind of embarrassing…”

She reservedly stroked my head and when I peered at her from below, she was slightly laughing, it seems like she doesn’t hate it. I moved my body to be at the same level as Aoi’s so I can properly apologize to her for what happened today. If I’m going to talk about it, it should be now. Even though she was staring at me curiously, she didn’t stop stroking my head which felt comfortable.

“I’m sorry about today. I brought you there to have fun with you, Aoi, but we didn’t talk that much. Also, even though we were talking, it felt like Tooru interrupted us, you probably didn’t feel good about that, did you.”

In that situation, it’s only natural she wouldn’t like it and Aoi did say she wanted to talk more, I regretted not thinking of a better place to go to. She was also about to say something along the lines of that today too. Aoi’s eyes opened wide in surprise and she stopped stroking my head to put it on the side of my face.

“No, you’re wrong, I was the one who said I wanted to go, and I was happy learning more about you, Yuki. But…”

She hesitated to continue and gloomily lowered her gaze. I thought I was proficient at understanding someone’s feelings and emotions, but when it comes to Aoi, there are a lot of times I don’t know what she’s thinking, so I gently grasped her small hand.

“But, what? …Tell me, Aoi.”

When I gently asked her, Aoi raised her gaze and looked at me. Yet she still looked sad and had an expression as though she would cry at any second. Why is she making such a face? I didn’t know the answer to that question, so I waited for Aoi’s response.

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