But how? Could I hide them somewhere in this room? Yeah, that was definitely one solution. Still, these panties had come from elsewhere. Suppose Haruka had worn this pair yesterday and just washed them. If she remembered that and discovered them in her room, she might connect that inconsistency to me—the guest.
Where could I hide these panties so that Haruka would never find them, then? I wouldn’t exactly feel great about stuffing them behind her dresser. And, of course, bringing them home was obviously out of the question. I racked my brain, trying to figure out the best course of action for both Haruka and myself.
“Hiromichi,” Haruka spoke up, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Are you feeling hot?”
“Huh?! Why do you ask?”
“Because you’re sweating like crazy.”
“Umm, n-no, I’m not particularly warm or anything...”
“Then are you feeling under the weather? You were even coughing a few minutes ago...”
Haruka looked at me with concerned eyes. She must’ve started to worry about me because of my pained expression. She was so kind! I seriously liked her!
At this point, I was practically swelling up like a balloon with guilt. Still, it’s not like I could say, “Oh, I’m just sweating buckets over here because I’ve got your panties stuffed inside my pocket, and I’m worried you’ll find out.”
On the other hand, her question had given me an idea. Feeling under the weather? I could do something with that!
“I’m not feeling sick or anything,” I said, “but I have needed to use the restroom for a while now.”
“Huh? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Well, it felt like bad manners to use my girlfriend’s restroom, I guess...”
“Oh, is that all? What a silly thing to worry about. I’ll show you where it is right now. Follow me.”
“Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”
When I returned from the restroom, I would leave the panties outside her room. After all, Spot had originally brought them in from outside. Rather than disposing of the evidence in her room, it wouldn’t feel as strange for Haruka to stumble across them somewhere else. Furthermore, most houses were designed to have their water facilities in the same vicinity. That meant that the restroom and bathroom—which housed the washing machine—tended to be right next to each other. If I casually dropped the panties next to the washing machine, she wouldn’t be any the wiser.
I’ve pretty much done a lifetime of sweating over one damn cat.
As I complained to myself, I tried brushing Spot—who’d curled up on my lap—away in order to stand. Yet even when I nudged him, he stubbornly refused to budge. I had no other choice. I placed my hands beneath his belly and tried to lift him up. In response, his claws dug into my trousers.
Stubborn bastard!
I was out of ideas, so I resorted to pulling up even harder, forcibly ripping him away. At that moment, disaster struck. Spot must have hooked onto the panties during his resistance. When I finally successfully peeled him away, his claws pulled them smoothly from my pocket.
“Eeeek!” I screamed.
Haruka stared at the panties half-protruding from my pocket, eyes wide in shock. “Huh? Hiromichi, those... are my... What’s going on?!”
Th-This is the worst! The worst possible timeline! I need to explain myself!
“This is all a huge misunderstanding!” I cried. “I didn’t do anything! It was all Spot! He had these stuck to his leg when he came into the room! But I was afraid of causing a misunderstanding if I just left them here, so I stuffed them in my pocket! I wasn’t trying to steal them! I was hoping to secretly drop them beside the washing machine on my way to the restroom! P-Please believe me!”
In my panicked state, I’d rattled off a long-winded explanation. Suddenly, a memory resurfaced from the back of my mind—a long time ago, I’d seen a news story about a man overseas accused of owning illegal pornography. As an excuse, he’d blamed his cat for accidentally “saving” the files onto his computer. Had anyone believed him in the end? I definitely hadn’t, at the very least.
Yeah, this story is way too unrealistic for Haruka to believe me. Ah, it’s over. My first relationship... just crumbled right before my very eyes...
“O-Oh, is that what happened?” Haruka said.
What?
“C’mon, Hiromichi, don’t scare me like that!”
“Haruka, you really believe me?” I asked, incredulous.
“Of course I do. I’m your girlfriend, after all. I know you’re not the kind of person to do that sort of thing. But if you were so worried about a misunderstanding, that must mean you don’t trust me enough yet... I’m a little disappointed by that.”
Haruka puffed out her cheeks, but she wasn’t actually angry. No, she was sulking in a jocular manner. In other words, she actually believed my story. She really, truly trusted a guy like me from the bottom of her heart.
Would I ever encounter another person across this vast, expansive world who viewed me with such affirmation? Would I ever experience anything more rewarding than this? A deep love for the girl in front of me overflowed from my chest. Driven by these powerful emotions, I instinctively extended a hand toward Haruka, barely able to breathe.
“Oh...” she whispered.
My fingertips brushed her hair. For a brief moment, she seemed surprised, then she closed her eyes and used my palm to caress her cheek.
Yeah, I can read this one.
Haruka and I were both sending signals. We could both feel it from one another. Right now, I could slide my hand toward the nape of her neck and pull her in for an embrace.
Ding-dong!
“Uwah!” we both shouted in unison, jumping in response to the shrill doorbell.
The heat of the moment quickly faded, as if we’d been doused with cold water. Immediately, our closeness grew awkward, and we both averted our eyes.
“That was incredible timing,” Haruka noted with a laugh. “Just like in the manga you lent me recently.”
“Y-Yeah, I guess this does happen, even in reality...”
“I’ll go see who it is, okay?”
“O-Of course.”
Haruka fled from the room, her face so red that it even reached her ears. Somehow, it felt as though I’d let a critical moment slip past me.