After Story: Life Together Three Years Later
I woke amid gentle sunlight. According to the stylish clock on the wall, it was 6 a.m. When I reached for my phone on the side table, cool air kissed my bare arm. Then two strong arms pulled me back.
“Mm,” I groaned softly. “Shinozaki.”
Rather than answer, he tightened his embrace. He refused to let go, apparently unwilling to let a single millimeter come between us. Grabbing my smartphone would be difficult in our current state.
At first I thought he was also awake, considering how he’d trapped me, but that didn’t seem to be the case. So I gave up on my phone for the time being and waited quietly in his arms. I didn’t have work that day, and the hour was still early. No one would criticize me for staying in bed.
With a soft sigh, I relaxed, watching the details of Shinozaki’s room emerge in the faint morning light. His bedroom was much larger than mine in my parents’ house. And it was decorated with elegant, uniformly white furniture.
Around three years had passed since I first met Shinozaki. No, since I reunited with him as Kaede.
An abrupt turn of events had led to us living together.
✦ ✦ ✦
🍁🍁🍁
“YOUR father is getting close to his mandatory retirement age,” Mom announced in the middle of dinner one evening. “I want to do a major renovation of the house soon. Since you’re a working adult now, I want to make the place easier for your father and me to live in during our old age.”
“B-But I’m not getting married or anything,” I said.
“Come now. Do you need to be married to move out?”
“W-Well…”
Our current arrangement couldn’t last forever. My parents were getting older, and I had just turned twenty-four. The circumstances had changed in a variety of ways.
“Besides…” Mom’s eyes twinkled. “Aren’t you getting pretty serious with Shinozaki?”
“It’s about time he makes an honest woman out of you,” she was implying.
So I moved in with him at warp speed, and we planned to marry the following year.
I’d expected my father to be wholly against us living together. To my surprise, though, he didn’t object. When I asked him why the day before my move, he stared into the distance, his expression a touch sentimental. “I never sent you to college,” he said. “Moving out on your own and planning for the future will be a good experience for you. But if you ever want to come back, you’re always welcome.”
I’d opted to stay in the area and not pursue further education, and my father must have felt guilty about my decision. I suspected a news report about the local matriculation rate for women had gotten into his head.
“Thanks, Dad,” I said. “But I chose my current life because it’s what I wanted.”
“Kaede…”
“So…this time, I’m choosing to move out. I’ll do my best to get by without relying on you and Mom.”
Dad ruffled my hair and saw me off with a smile.
Thank goodness I was raised by such loving parents.
I’d always been terrified of deviating from the ordinary. In part, that had been due to Tsukushi steering me toward a normal life. But that wasn’t my only motivation. My soul hadn’t recovered from the trauma of my past life, and I unconsciously longed for a more mundane existence.
A normal life, an abnormal life—both were valid. Yet perhaps there was a middle path.
I was raised by loving parents. My life was so happy that I’d wished for nothing. Consequently, I’d wanted to remain normal. If my wonderful life was considered ordinary, why would I want anything else?
Nevertheless, my feelings were changing little by little.
✦ ✦ ✦
🍁🍁🍁
“SHINOZAKI,” I said. “Shouldn’t we get up soon?”
“Hell no.” He turned me in his arms so we faced each other.
I laughed softly as he hugged me even tighter. “You’re going to squeeze the air out of my lungs.”
He mumbled sleepily.
“Hey,” I said. “Didn’t you promise to take me to the café on the first floor for breakfast?”
“We have time. Keep being my body pillow for a little while longer.”
He could be a huge slugabed in the morning. He let out a contented sigh, his long eyelashes fluttering closed as he dozed off again. His long, silky hair spilled over the sheets, and his fluffy ears twitched every so often. He was adorable when he acted like a fox. Lying next to him, I could see just how flawless his skin was. I stroked his cheek, curious, but strangely couldn’t feel any trace of stubble.
I peeked at the top of his chest visible under the collar of his pajamas—the spot where the sigil used to be. Back when he’d first shown me the sigil, I hadn’t been able to look at it directly, his sexiness too much for me to bear. But that morning, I tugged on his shirt to get a better glimpse at his chiseled chest.
Shinozaki laughed, his eyes still closed. “Hey, perv, what are you looking at?”
“I’m not being a perv,” I replied. “This is my right as a body pillow.”
“Oh yeah? Can’t argue with that.” He squeezed me even harder.
Although I could see only his neck, I felt him ruffle my hair and kiss my forehead. A pleasant warmth washed over me, and I closed my eyes, basking in his scent and the heat of his skin.
I’d never known that sort of comfort before meeting him. Such happiness originated from beyond the world I’d previously known. If I’d discovered it earlier, I would have broken free of my idyllic shelter much sooner.
“Shinozaki.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s so wonderful to sleep in with the person you love. Maybe I would’ve been better off not knowing.”
“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
“I just can’t bring myself to let go of you,” I said. “I want you to keep holding me forever. Like it’s perfectly normal.”
Without warning, he let go of me. Then he laced his fingers through mine and pinned me to the bed. He gazed down at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
His smile caused my heart to race and blood to pound in my ears, a feeling I hadn’t experienced until recently.
“So,” he said, “you understand how I feel now?”
“I think so.” I squeezed our interlaced fingers. Looking up into his eyes, I smiled. “I left you alone for so long, didn’t I?”
“That’s right. Four hundred years. No, four hundred and three.”
“Do you plan to keep increasing the number?”
“I could hardly breathe the entire time I waited.” A serious shadow fell over his face, and he seemed to consider his next words carefully. “I love you. This time, we’ll be together forever, no matter what.”
“Of course.”
We would be wed the following year. But what happened when a human married an ayakashi?
How will I explain everything to my family? What will happen to my life? My legal records? Will I even be able to stay a normal human?
Only three years had passed since Shinozaki and I had consummated our relationship. As a twenty-four-year-old, I’d stopped growing years before. Had my body changed in the past three years, most people would have attributed it to a change in lifestyle. But what about in ten or twenty years?
In all likelihood, I wouldn’t age like the people around me. I would live forever by Shinozaki’s side. What’s more, I would remain twenty-one in appearance, the age at which I’d become his mate. The thought frightened me. What if I came to regret my decision? What if I wanted to return to being normal?
Even so…
I gripped his hands and spoke from the heart. “I’ll never leave you again,” I vowed.
Before I could add, “I love you too,” he pressed his lips to mine.
Shinozaki and I would never part. Even if everyone we knew passed away. Even if Fukuoka disappeared from the face of Earth. No matter what might or might not happen, we would be together for centuries to come. For I’d chosen to stay with him forever.