Miyo came back to her senses when there was a sudden, surprising knock at the door.
“Miyooo, Kiyokaaa? Are you awake?”
It was Hazuki’s voice. At that same moment, Kiyoka heaved a big sigh, abruptly got up, and separated himself from Miyo.
For just a brief second, this made her feel a touch sad, but she desperately shook her head side to side.
What in the world am I thinking?
Still, the urge to be with him always, the difficulty to part from Kiyoka for even a moment… Such feelings seemed to be growing stronger and stronger by the day since the wedding.
Their happy moments spent together, loving and being loved.
It was far too addictive for Miyo, and she threatened to grow dependent on it.
As she agonized over her own desire atop the bed, Kiyoka immediately headed to the door and opened it.
“What?”
His voice was almost terrifyingly firm. The temperature drop in his tone compared to moments before, when he had been speaking with Miyo, was tremendous.
“Oh, what’s that grouchy look first thing in the morning?”
Hazuki’s eyes happened to meet Miyo’s as she peered inside the room from the doorway.
The heat hadn’t abated yet, and Miyo was sure her cheeks were still red. Unable to bear it, she dropped her face and cowered slightly.
“Oh my, oh my, did I perhaps interrupt the newlyweds at a bad time?”
“Don’t get cute.”
“Sheesh, how rude. Do you really think it’s okay to talk to your sister like that?”
Miyo could only see Kiyoka’s backside from where she sat, and Hazuki’s expression was hidden behind the door, so she couldn’t confirm it for herself, but just from hearing their conversation, she could tell that they were staring each other down as though they were right in front of her.
“Well? What are you here for?”
“Oh, right, right. I wanted to ask you two. You said that you were going to go out boating today, didn’t you?”
“Oh!”
Miyo couldn’t stop herself from letting out a gasp.
She had completely forgotten. She had heard that they could boat around the pond in the nearby park, and they decided it would be the perfect change of pace for their stay.
With everything that had happened right after waking up, these plans had completely vanished into the far reaches of her memory.
“Well, it’s closer to noon than morning at this point, but are you still going? Or not?”
Hazuki’s question prompted Kiyoka to turn back to Miyo.
“What do you want to do? Think we can make it? If you’re not in the mood, you don’t have to push yourself…”
“I’ll go. I want to go.”
Miyo didn’t hesitate to reply.
No matter how much freedom she may have had to rest, she couldn’t let herself spend the whole day laying around inside the manor. That had been made painfully clear to her moments ago. She was running headlong into becoming a hopeless layabout.
With her mind made up, she immediately got off the bed and stood up.
“I-I’ll get changed!”
She hurried with quick footsteps to exit the room, but Kiyoka stopped her. He gently pulled back one of her hands, and Miyo looked up at him.
“Kiyoka?”
“That’s not it.”
“…Darling. Um, er…?”
There was still some heat left in Kiyoka’s hand gripping hers, and in Miyo’s own hand, too. The lingering afterglow of the few minutes prior began to drift about them.
“I don’t have any problem at all with spending the rest of the day here.”
“What?”
“We can go to the park whenever we want. I can manage that, even without taking time off.”
“B-but…”
“You don’t like that idea? Spending the whole day together with me in this room, restoring our spirits…”
She felt herself being sucked into Kiyoka’s clear eyes. The resolve she had found to go outside began to shake at the foundation.
She could never dislike such an idea—he was right.
Miyo had always considered the time they spent alone, affirming their love for one another, more precious than anything else. Kiyoka’s words tempted her far more than he could have imagined.
But even so.
Pull yourself together, Miyo. You’re going to get swallowed up at this rate.
She scolded herself.
Kiyoka truly was a sinful husband. It was clear just how much he had corrupted Miyo’s thoughts like this.
“I-I’m not against the idea… But I want to remain an upright and decent person!”
“Pfft!”
As soon as Miyo shouted this, she heard the sound of laughter from beside her.
It was then, all of a sudden, she realized she had forgotten something very important. The two of them weren’t the only ones in this room, were they?
She slowly glanced over in the direction of the stifled laughter that was still going. There she saw Hazuki clutching her stomach, straining as she shook from her hearty laugh.
Appearing to notice Miyo’s eyes on her, Hazuki still continued to laugh, her breathing ragged, as she managed to speak.
“O-oh, don’t mind me, hee-hee. Go ahead, keep going. A-ha-ha-ha-ha! Oh, that was hilarious. ‘An upright person,’ was it? Th-that’s too adorable, hee-hee. Kiyoka, I guess that means you aren’t upright or decent, are you?”
“Sis…”
“D-don’t get mad at me, please, a-ha-ha-ha-ha! Just forget I’m here. Pfft, hee-hee-hee. Go right ahead and flirt to your hearts’ content.”
Ignoring Kiyoka, who was looking at her with cold disgust, Hazuki continued to belly laugh.
When she had first come to her senses, Miyo had felt incredibly shameful and wanted to crawl under a rock, but now she, too, had regained her composure.
“Kiyoka, my hand.”
“You sure you want me to let go?”
“I-I’m going to go get changed!” she firmly asserted before smoothly removing her hand from Kiyoka’s grip. The faint reluctance she saw in his eyes surely had to be a trick of Miyo’s imagination.
Kiyoka would never sincerely want for the two of them to spend a slovenly day together. Certainly not.
“That’s too bad. Here I thought I’d get to see more of your innocent tête-à-tête, too.”
“Enough already.”
Pretending she didn’t hear Hazuki and Kiyoka’s conversation from behind, Miyo hurried to another room to get herself ready.
In the end, Miyo and Kiyoka left the manor shortly before noon.