“I’ve been keeping it a secret, but if there’s a ghost or something behind me, I can tell.”
“You’re drunk, aren’t you?” She glared at me suspiciously.
There was no doubt I that I was drunk, but if I was going to mess with her, I wanted her to believe me. I thought back to an article I’d read online and continued, “When I was in third grade, at a public bath in my neighborhood…”
“I’m tapping out! Good night!” She ran out of the bathroom, jumped into my bed, pulled the blanket over her head, and curled up into a ball.
I didn’t mind letting her use my bed since she was my guest, but the way she jumped into it without hesitation showed that she really hated ghost stories.
“You tapped out real fast,” I sighed.
She poked her head out from under the blanket. Her big eyes shot lasers right at me. “I can’t do it. You’re too mean. Seriously, keep that up, and you’re not getting my cooking.”
“Okay, sorry, sorry. Yes, I’m drunk, and I was lying.”
“Of course. Ghosts aren’t real, after all! People in the olden days just thought they were real because of the simulacra phenomenon. You know, the one that makes it so that when you see three dots, you can imagine a face. That’s the truth behind ghosts!”
I ignored her ranting and hauled a futon out of the closet. I’d bought two futons when I started living alone, thinking the second would come in handy when I got a girlfriend or had friends staying over. Unfortunately, it hadn’t seen much use.
Reina had stayed over sometimes, but I almost never had friends sleep over. I just didn’t like having people sleep here. Ayaka knew that too, so she only ever came over during the day.
Shinohara was the strange one for always hanging out here. For some reason, I was okay with that, but I didn’t know why. Maybe we just got along especially well.
While I gathered up the futon, she stood up. “Oh, Senpai, let me help you out.”
“It’s okay. This is mine, anyway.”
“Huh? You’ll let me sleep in your bed?”
“It’s a pretty nice futon, you know.”
If she was staying over, then I’d like to let her sleep somewhere comfortable. Sometimes, even I wanted to show off how good of a senior I was. Her surprise was enough to make me smile.
She’d only jumped into my bed to get away from the ghost story. Apparently, she hadn’t expected to actually sleep there.
“You can change the sheets, if you want,” I offered.
“No, I don’t wanna make more laundry. This is fine, anyway. Are you really sure?”
“Yep. No skin off my back.” I laid out the futon and settled in. It still wasn’t far from my bed, but this was the best I could do in my shoddy studio apartment.
When I turned the light off, most of the room was covered in shadow. Moonlight filtered between the curtains, lighting up the room in sparse strands.
“Good night,” I said. I felt as if Shinohara was smiling back.
“Yeah. Good night.”
When I closed my eyes, I heard her shuffle in bed a little. She could probably notice every little time I moved too. The silence that had fallen upon us reminded me that we were all alone. I squeezed my eyes shut harder to try and ignore it.
“You’re kinda far away, aren’t you?” Her muffled voice made me open my eyes again. It must’ve been muffled by the blanket. Oddly, she sounded so distant.
“Not really? Only about two meters.” My voice cracked a little. Was it the alcohol hurting my throat, or was I nervous because of this unfamiliar situation?
You’d be right if you said it was stupid to be nervous right now, but this felt very different from when I’d slept with my girlfriend.
I waited a little. Shinohara didn’t respond. The faint ticking of my clock echoed unpleasantly in the silence. I regretted not getting a digital one.
If she’s already asleep, then she’s the boldest woman I’ve ever met. No matter how much she trusted me, I still felt like she was being too vulnerable. I’d much rather fall asleep than spend the whole night thinking about all of this, but the more I tried to sleep, the more my brain revved up.
I opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling resentfully.
“Nope. Can’t sleep,” I groaned.
No reply.
“Shinohara?” I said her name one last time. If she wasn’t awake, I’d just have to scroll on my phone. That would obviously just wake me up more, so I wanted to avoid it if at all possible.
Lucky me, though, I heard the sheets rustle.
“I was finally falling asleep,” she complained. Her voice was a little coarser than usual, since I’d just dragged her back from the precipice of sleep. I had to apologize.
“Oh, sorry.”
She fidgeted for a little bit but eventually settled. I couldn’t hear her breathing, so I wasn’t sure if she was asleep, but I finally realized how stupid it’d be to wake her up because I was bored.
With a sigh, I gave up and took my phone out of my pocket.
“Wanna sleep together?”
“Huh?” I gasped dumbly, unable to comprehend the words I’d just heard.
“It’s okay. You can sleep in the bed with me.”
Finally understanding, I turned over to face away from the bed. “You can’t share a bed with an older guy you’re not dating.”
“Great principle. Okay, then go to sleep.”
“I can’t.”
“Then come over here.”
I heard her sit up. We were in the dark, but I could almost sense her looking at my back.
I’d normally refuse without another thought, but I had a reason to hesitate: I wasn’t used to the futon, so it was really hard to fall asleep. Even then, that felt like an excuse. The irresistible allure in her offer was what had put that excuse in my head to begin with.
Her voice in the dark seemed sensual, no matter how often I tried to ignore it. I got out of the futon and managed to stumble over to the bed in the darkness.
Apparently able to see me, she took my hand and urged me next to her. “Here you go.” When I sat down, her scent felt closer than ever. A sweet smell, unbefitting of my own bed, tickled my nose. “I’ll go closer to the wall. Don’t kick me in my sleep, please.”
“I’m not that bad of a sleeper,” I protested. I thought I saw a smile in the dark. Finally, my eyes adjusted, and I saw her face better.
“Good.” She scooted her hips over to the wall and put her head down on the pillow. I put the pillow I’d brought next to it and slowly laid down.
Though my back was to her, I could still feel every breath of hers from just a couple dozen centimeters away. I’d thought this would make it even harder to sleep, but something about this configuration was so fulfilling that I didn’t mind it at all.
Eventually, I stopped hearing the sound of the clock. The sounds of pillow and hair rubbing together stopped too. This mutual silence continued for a while, but from the lack of regular breathing, I could tell that she still wasn’t asleep.
I opened my eyes and stared vacantly into the empty darkness until she finally spoke.
“You’re such an upright guy, Senpai.” Her words were vague, but I had a feeling I knew what she meant.
“A really upright guy wouldn’t let a girl he isn’t dating sleep over at his house, though.”
“True.”