“Man, my fingers are worn out. I’ve never used scissors for so long,” I complained out loud.
While Shigure was in the bathroom cleaning the bathtub, I was preparing her new living space.
I was currently in the entryway, juggling bags of garbage from my dad’s room. Since he’d instructed me to throw out everything except for my mom’s mementos, I’d stuffed everything in the near vicinity into said trash bags. Unfortunately, I couldn’t just cram his clothes in there as they were. Due to a certain rule in this area, I needed to cut them up as finely as possible before I could add them to the burnable trash pile.
The fabric scissors I struggled with were a memento of my mom’s. I cut my dad’s clothes—all of which had dinosaur prints—into small strips of gaudy cloth. And just as the base of my fingers started to cramp up, I finally finished the job.
That was one thing down, and about a dozen more to go.
“That still leaves the curtain,” I grumbled to myself. A little earlier, I’d ended up unearthing an enormous curtain from the closet. Dealing with that would be a major pain in the ass, and since my fingers were already exhausted, I decided to take a short break.
I gazed pensively at the mountain of trash piled up in the entryway. We had all sorts of garbage: burnable, unburnable, bulk, and more. Then there was the issue of my dad’s dinosaur figures. I considered asking for Shigure’s help in taking these to a pawn shop—hopefully they could provide us with a little extra money for the household.
As I was busy mulling things over, Shigure suddenly called out to me. “Big Bro! We’ve got a problem.”
“What is it? Do you not know how to heat the bath?” I asked.
“No issues there. My old place had the same setup.”
“Then what’s up?”
“Well, here’s the thing—I just noticed that this apartment doesn’t have a changing room!”
Oh, yeah.
This apartment’s bathroom was directly connected to the wood-paneled section of the kitchen. Likewise, there was no door between the kitchen and living room, the latter of which also served as my bedroom. In short, the bathroom was directly connected to my bedroom. Since the household had consisted of just me and Dad until then, it hadn’t really mattered and ended up completely slipping my mind. But now that Shigure was here, the lack of a changing room was a huge problem.
“Don’t we have a curtain rail in there, though?” I asked.
“Um… There is one, but there’s nothing hanging from it.”
“Maybe we can use this, then?” I asked, holding up the curtain I was initially planning to throw away.
If it were usable, I wouldn’t have to cut it up—I’d take care of two birds with one stone. I hung the curtain from the rail and checked its length.
Hmm, it’s kinda short.
The width was fine, but the hem hung a little over a foot from the ground. Still, this would have to suffice for the time being.
“Your knees will show, but at least it’s dark; that means it’s not see-through,” I said. “Are you comfortable using this for now?”
“I don’t mind, but will you be all right with that?” she asked.
“Huh? I’m a guy. We don’t really sweat that sort of thing.”
“Hmm, really now?” she replied with the same mocking grin she wore before. A slight chill ran down my spine when I saw it. Just as I thought, it was nothing like an expression Haruka would ever make.
“Wh-What’s with that suggestive grin?” I squeaked.
“Nothing at all. If you don’t have a problem with it, neither do I. Well, the bath’s heated and ready to go. I’ll jump in first.”
“Take your time,” I said, waving my hand lightly.
With that, I returned to the living room and turned on the television.
Man, I lucked out.
Since the curtain had found some sort of use, that meant I’d finished cleaning. After Shigure was finished with the bath, I could wash up, go to sleep, and pull the metaphorical curtain on the most exhausting day of my entire life. There were still things I needed to consider, but for the time being, everything was all right.
I sat in the living room and zoned out to the variety show I usually watched. Due to the layout of my apartment, I could catch glimpses of the bathroom from the corner of my eye. That was when I spotted Shigure removing her socks, revealing her thin legs and bare feet.
“Ah,” I gasped, then quickly checked myself.
Wait, what am I getting so worked up over? I’d just seen her legs, right? I might’ve been a virgin, but I wasn’t that pent up. Girls showed their bare legs off everywhere—both in the city and at school. It was hardly a rare sight. So why did I feel the urge to avert my gaze? I needed to get a grip—there was no reason to be so sheepish over a simple pair of legs. And with my rather flimsy, makeshift wall of stubbornness erect, I forced myself to return my attention to the television.
Flop.
The skirt that Shigure had been wearing traveled down her legs before falling to the floor.
“Ugh!”
At that moment, I cursed my own thoughtlessness.
A little over one foot from the ground, huh?
Sure, I hadn’t seen anything too scandalous. The girls at school would often pull the waistbands of their skirts up to impossibly short lengths, revealing their thighs. They would show way more skin than what I’d witnessed just now. Despite that, this situation was completely different. The movement of Shigure’s pale legs and her falling clothes had relayed a vivid truth to me—just beyond the curtain, a girl with the same face as Haruka was slowly revealing her nude body one piece of clothing at a time.
Good lord, this had been a horrible miscalculation on my part. I hadn’t taken my incredibly active imagination into account. Based on the glimpse I’d caught from the small foot-long gap, my mind could easily fill in the rest.
Shit, what should I do? Go into my dad’s room behind the screen door?
No, that wouldn’t work. That room now belonged to Shigure. After we’d eaten dinner, she’d set about organizing her personal belongings in there. That meant I could no longer enter without permission.
Sh-Should I go hide in the restroom?
From the gap in the curtain, I witnessed Shigure’s hands sliding down her legs, pulling down a thin, white piece of cloth. That small slip of fabric was it—the straw that broke the camel’s back, and my body slumped over the tea table. My heart was pounding so loudly, I thought my eardrums might burst from within.
All right, that settles it. Tomorrow for sure.
The following day, I would go to the hardware store and buy a curtain; a proper one that trailed all the way to the ground. By God, I would lay claim to that holy artifact, come hell or high water!
“Umm, excuse me,” Shigure spoke up. “Are you there, Big Bro?”
“Whoa! Wh-What’s up?!”
As I jerked my head up, Shigure poked her face out from the corner of the curtain and studied me suspiciously.
“What are you freaking out over?” she asked.
“I-I’m not freaking out! I was just taking a nap, and hearing your voice startled me! So, what’s up?” I desperately tried to cover for myself.
“Sorry to disturb your sleep, but could you fetch me the shampoo and conditioner from my suitcase? I forgot to grab them before coming in here.”
“Y-You’re cool with me opening your bag?”
“Of course. I’ve already put away my underwear and the like. No need to worry about that.”
“G-Got it.”
Virtually fleeing from Shigure’s gaze, I entered her room and retrieved two pink bottles from the suitcase lying against the wall. I took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm my nerves. When it was clear that hadn’t helped in the slightest, I decided to feign composure instead. I returned to the living room with the best poker face I could muster and handed the two bottles over to Shigure.
“Eheh,” she giggled with a suggestive grin. “Thank you ever so much, Big Bro.”
“Wh-Why are you making that face?”
“What? Oh, it’s nothing. Nothing at all.”
Shigure retreated back inside the curtain. I heard the bathroom door open and close. After I’d returned to the safety of the tea table, I let out a massive sigh.
What was with that expression just now?
Despite the uncanny resemblance to Haruka, such an odd smile would never appear on my girlfriend’s face. With that provocative expression fresh in my mind, Shigure’s earlier words resurfaced and repeated themselves.
“I don’t mind, but will you be all right with that?” she had asked.
Perhaps Shigure had known how I’d react. Despite knowing that she’d become the subject of my vulgar fantasies, she hadn’t even remotely attempted to put a stop to things. The very concept sent a shiver down my spine, causing alarm bells to go off in my head.
Could she be trying to…?
“Nope, stop right there. Don’t jump to conclusions,” I scolded myself out loud. I couldn’t make any assumptions about her simply based on my own imagination. After all, Shigure had done her best to meet me halfway. I was a complete stranger who had just become her brother as of a few hours ago. There was no need to play the victim based on zero evidence.
Brushing aside the sinister premonition that had arisen in the back of my mind, I decided to distract myself by studying. I placed my notebooks atop the tea table and began preparing for tomorrow’s lessons.
I always studied in my free time—there was never a downside to learning new things, regardless of what they were. I would say that was the only good lesson my bastard of an old man had ever instilled in me. Whenever I focused on my notebooks, irrelevant thoughts disappeared from my mind. Through being so absorbed in the material, I managed to regain my composure.
“I ended up sweating a ton today from the move,” Shigure sighed. “Nothing like hot water to make you feel better. The bath is all yours now.”
“All right, then. I’ll hop in soon,” I replied automatically. Until she’d spoken to me, I hadn’t even noticed Shigure return from the bathroom. Studying had never once failed me—thanks, Dad.
I unfolded my legs and stood up, then promptly froze in place.
In the blink of an eye, I’d lost the ability to move. It felt as though ice had replaced the blood that flowed through my veins, and yet, at the same time, my red-hot face threatened to burst into flames at any second. But who could blame me? After all, when I’d finally looked up, I’d found Shigure standing there in nothing but a bath towel!
“Wh-What the hell are you thinking, coming out here like that?!” I cried, unable to contain the frantically high pitch in my voice.
Shigure, on the other hand, merely cocked her head.