Chapter 31: A Friend’s House, Mizuki Miyamoto’s Point of View
Translator: Soafp
“A-Anyway, you’re going to get soaked, so just come in first.”
Ishikawa-kun opens the door, which was slightly open, more widely to say so. ……Huh, I’m going up to a boy’s house for the first time,……No, this is an emergency situation, so I have no choice. Yes, I’m just going to shelter for a bit. ……
“Y-yes. I’m sorry to bother you ……. ……”
I followed Ishikawa-kun through the front door. Ishikawa took off his shoes and walked to what might be the washroom. He immediately turned around and opened his mouth with an apologetic look on his face.
“Uhm, ……, I’m sorry. I don’t have slippers or anything for visitors. …… I do clean the place, so I don’t think it’s dirty. ……”
“Yes, it’s fine.”
I always wear slippers at home, so I feel a little uncomfortable, but that’s to be expected. Instead, if my socks were wet from the rain or something, I might stain them. ……
So I checked and found that the socks I was wearing were safe because the place where the rain came down and Ishikawa’s house were close to each other.
“Oh, there is a washbasin over here, so you can wash your hands in there.”
“Yes, thank you.”
When I answered so and entered the washroom where Ishikawa-kun came out, the first thing I saw was a toilet.
Oh, it’s a unit bathroom. …… I might have seen it for the first time.
I washed my hands quickly, wiped them with a towel, and got out of there.
“Do you want something to drink? All I have is tap water or tea.”
Ishikawa-kun asked me as he brought me a cup of tea from the refrigerator just outside the door.
“Then, tea….. please…….”
Somehow, I didn’t know how to answer him, so I ended up using a strange honorific. ……I’m nervous.
“Sure, you can go in. Tea will be ready”
As I stand there, not knowing where to go, Ishikawa-kun points with his hand toward the back door and says so. As Ishikawa-kun is pouring a cup of tea, it seems better to do as I am told and go quickly.
“S-sorry for bothering… ……”
I open the door and walk in.
…… It’s clean …….
I don’t think he put it away or anything when he went to get his umbrella earlier, and even now he probably just left his bag in this room and was getting ready to drink. That makes me think that he usually keeps the room clean.
That’s what I thought as soon as I entered the room. But when I looked around properly, a slight feeling of dread came over me.
…… things, there is nothing….?
Everything he needs is there. There was absolutely nothing …… that was not what he needed, ……. Even though I’ve been in high school for about 3 months now. If I look at this room alone, I can tell that a student lives here thanks to the textbooks and notebooks that line the desk, but I don’t know anything else.
“Ah, you can sit anywhere you want. Sorry. I wasn’t expecting someone to come in, so I couldn’t offer any hospitality.”
“Y-yes. ……. No, I didn’t mean to intrude on you suddenly. …… at all.”
I’ve never even heard of him being a minimalist. …… It doesn’t have too much personality.
“I’ll leave the tea here. …… Oh, rain, it looks like it will be calmed down in 15 more minutes.”
As Ishikawa-kun put the tea on the study desk, he looked at his cell phone and said something like that.
“Oh, so that’s what it’s going to be ……. Then, I’ll stay with you during that time.”
“Yes.”
The only place to sit down was the chair of the study desk, so I flopped down on the floor. And then I couldn’t help but be curious, so I mentioned the question that came to mind.
“…..What do you always do at home, Ishikawa?”
“Eh? I do housework, study,……, and read books I borrowed from the library.”
As Ishikawa answered, he pulled out a slightly thicker book from his bag and showed it to me. Then he put it down and took out his textbooks and arranged them in front of his study desk.
As I was looking at them, it was the first time since I entered this room that I found something that was not ”necessary”. A small stuffed animal with a string hanging next to the desk. A cat? I wonder…..? It had a very subtle expression on its face, and it was designed in such a way that it was more unique than cute.
“This is……?”
“Oh, that’s the prize I was talking about the other day, when I played crawl machine with Yuki. It’s not very pretty, but I like it a lot.”
Oh, he said he did that when he played during Golden Week. …… I see……, this is the one he played with Abe-kun…………
“….Hey”
“Yeah?”
“Can I come back?”
“Eh,……, it’s fine,……. There’s nothing I can do for you if you come over, okay?”
“That’s fine, I’ll come back.”
“Oh, yes.”
I’ll come back next time, I’ll bring something. Bring whatever it is and let’s play together. So ……
“And, do you want to go hang out with me during summer vacation?”
“Eh, sure. That’s …… by all means, I’d be happy to ……”
Ishikawa answered, looking a little puzzled.
I know that he went through a lot in his third year of junior high school. I don’t know if it was because of that, but I also thought that Ishikawa didn’t have many likes and dislikes. But it was frightening to see a room with so little personality of any kind. It feels like it will disappear and be gone before you know it.
….Also, the fact that only the ones from when he went to play with Abe-kun are among them is …… sneaky, which is not the same thing, but …… a bit frustrating.
Ishikawa, who had finished organizing, turned to me with a troubled look on his face.
“Uhm………, what shall we do?”
“It will soon be summer vacation, so let’s think about what we will do during summer vacation.”
“Ah …… yeah.”
The reaction was a little strange, but Ishikawa’s mouth was relaxed and I was happy to see it.
……Would you mind lifting your hair up a little, just a little bit…..?
“Uhm,……, Miyamoto-san?”
“Oh, sorry.”
“No, what’s wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Dangerous ……. I had been staring at him. Since the day of the last test return, I was able to look him in the eye only a few times. In those few times, there was no time when Ishikawa-kun was smiling. I would like to see that smile again, but it is hard to ask him to show me what he is hiding.
“Is there anything you want to do, Miyamoto-san?”
Something I want to do, ……. When asked such a question, there are …… so many things that I can’t think of anything.
“I want to do a lot of things.”
“….Fufu, I see”
But I couldn’t see his eyes because they were hidden by his hair. I guess I was really lucky to be able to see it last time.
Maybe, I am the only one who has ever seen that smile of Ishikawa-kun. ……it makes me feel a little happy about that.
Chapter 30: Second round, answer – Soafp Translation
July 6, 2022 at 10:46 am[…] chapter 31 […]
nika77722
July 6, 2022 at 10:17 amThanks for the chapter. Thank you storm-kun, keep up the good work 😁
Simak
July 6, 2022 at 12:49 pmA bit “dry” for a storm scene, but fits the work more than a lucky lewd moment would have. Thanks for the chapter.
nika77722
July 6, 2022 at 4:17 pmThanks for the chapter. Thank you storm-kun, keep up the good work 😁
Simak
July 6, 2022 at 6:49 pmA bit “dry” for a storm scene, but fits the work more than a lucky lewd moment would have. Thanks for the chapter.
Eneo (@anton1234098)
July 6, 2022 at 10:09 pmStorm-kun is the best Wingman for Ishikawa and Miyamoto, Change my mimd.
Gatts
July 6, 2022 at 11:35 pmThank you for the chapter !
Eneo (@anton1234098)
July 7, 2022 at 4:09 amStorm-kun is the best Wingman for Ishikawa and Miyamoto, Change my mimd.
Gatts
July 7, 2022 at 5:35 amThank you for the chapter !