Alcohol, Movies, and the Bed
“…….”
“Why are you like this?”
“I think hypnosis is a surprisingly useful ability.”
“Fufu, really?”
I used hypnosis to gently, very gently, give Saran a little bit of treatment.
After she fell back asleep, she hugged me tightly.
That was right after we returned from the bed to the dining table, where tteokbokki and other dishes had been laid out.
I had already warned her, and I hadn’t wiped the memory of hypnosis from her mind, so Saran could now feel that I had cast it on her and that things had changed because of it.
If I had erased the memories about hypnosis completely… even the feeling would have been gone.
“Are you feeling a bit less worried now?”
“There’s still a little unease, but yes.”
“Fufu, that’s good. I’m really fine. Play with your office worker who won’t be going to work tomorrow. It’s super boring to play by yourself.”
“…Okay.”
There was still a hint of worry left.
But Saran nodded at my words.
I had already told Team Leader I’d take tomorrow off, so the conversation had ended with her telling me to use up the paid leave.
As for the kidnapping… I decided not to mention it because it might make her panic unnecessarily, but since I was truly fine and my recent busyness had been the real issue, Team Leader had happily accepted my request to play late today.
“Huhuhu…”
“…It’s a bit silly that you’re laughing.”
“Is it? When I’m happy, I sometimes smile like this without realizing it.”
“…Yeah, it’s possible. I won’t think oddly about it, just think it’s cute.”
Saran was usually blunt and short-spoken.
That had been the case from our first meeting onward.
When she asked me earlier if I was truly fine, her words had been quite long, but even then she was generally quiet.
Since the hypnosis treatment, I could sense her speech gradually becoming a little longer.
It made me happy that she felt closer and more comfortable with me.
“Miss Saran, shall we have some drinks? I have soju at home, and um… wine, well, there is some anyway?”
“Alcohol?”
“Yes, it’s been a while since tomorrow won’t be a workday. It would feel empty not to drink.”
Personally, my stance on alcohol was clear.
I didn’t dislike it at all, and I could say I leaned overwhelmingly toward liking it.
I had to work at the office too, and while I didn’t drink to the point of ruining my health every day, liking alcohol was still true.
I enjoyed pretty much every kind.
I didn’t have any special hobbies, so I started collecting wine little by little as my salary allowed.
Since I drank a bit alone, the collection grew naturally.
“Hehe…”
“So much…”
“I buy for myself. No one to impress, and no money to spend elsewhere, so it just happened.”
I opened the cabinet where I stored the collected wines and showed her.
There were over twenty bottles.
It was… a fair amount of money spent.
To be precise, the cabinet wasn’t just a storage unit; it was also a kind of mini fridge that kept the wine fresh and cool.
“How is it? Want to open one and drink?”
“…Since you said you wanted to drink.”
“Fufu, then I’ll open just one.”
Saran finally nodded and allowed me to drink because, well… I had looked like I really wanted to drink right now.
Even when we drank wine before, she liked it, so I hadn’t expected her to refuse.
“Pabokki with a vodka cocktail… It seems a bit silly.”
“As long as it’s tasty.”
“Is it? Well, if it’s tasty, that’s fine. I agree.”
The fruit drink that came with the tteokbokki set.
I mixed it with the vodka.
It had a screwdriver-like feel, but since the drink was so smooth, the typical vodka aroma wasn’t very strong.
Vodka is a bit strong, after all.
If I didn’t drink it like this, it would vanish in seconds, and since there were so many things I didn’t want to end the night too early, I just ate the tteokbokki with the added story of the drinks.
“Huhuhu.”
“Fun?”
“Of course? There was a gloomy moment, but everything’s fine now, and I’m eating tasty food and drinking with such a pretty person, how could it not be fun.”
“…Pretty?”
“Pretty, of course. Why ask? You’d know just by looking in the mirror.”
“…….”
That was what I said in the middle of the conversation.
Saran, who had changed from her hero costume into an oversized t-shirt I had at home, looked a bit surprised.
Even though it was oversized, she was ten centimeters taller than me, so it just became a plain t-shirt, but… did she not even know how attractive she looked?
…Even I, who was a man back then, knew I was pretty and cute.
I had felt it well since the time when I could roughly recognize my own appearance.
But Saran, why?
“…I rarely hear words like that.”
“Huh…”
…What?
I was honestly surprised by Saran’s words.
A thought even crossed my mind that she was lying to tease me.
If I just walked around the street, I would have realized how pretty she was anyway, and even looking directly at her now would have told me the same thing.
Yet she acted as if she didn’t know she was pretty.
As a man who had lived as myself, I knew I was pretty, but it was honestly… rather difficult to understand that Saran, who had lived as a woman for twenty-six years, didn’t know it herself.
“I heard people say I’m scary since I was little.”
“…Scary?”
“…Because my eyes or my tongue are unusual. They’re not familiar to normal people.”
“I’m just pretty.”
“…….”
“Well, the ratio of awakened is low, and kids tend to find adults scary anyway. But once a person reaches an age where they can think properly, they should be able to distinguish appearances and charm properly, and call it plain pretty.”
I put down the glass of homemade cocktail and said that.
Even if I asked Batori, who was scared of people right now, she might feel scared, but she definitely wouldn’t deny that she was pretty.
“I see.”
“Yes.”
“…It’s interesting.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah.”
There could be many reasons.
In addition to what I had said, there might have been various other things in her life, so it was possible she couldn’t face her own appearance objectively.
That was just how people’s lives were.
In over twenty years, there were countless days and events that could have influenced her.
Unless Saran told me everything and even her inner feelings, I would find it difficult to fully understand her.
Still, I didn’t mean I couldn’t talk at all, and I wasn’t unable to help people.
“When I’m with you, I feel like I’m slowly changing.”
“That’s my job.”
“…Yeah, but I don’t mind it.”
Saran said that while clinking our glasses.
From the beginning, her impression, her expression… everything about her had been sharp and even the atmosphere around her sharp.
But now she looked slightly softer in her sharp impression than before, and comfort was felt in her voice, which made me feel proud.
“Miss Saran, shall we move to the other side and watch a movie? We can bring out another small table.”
“Yes.”
Saran and I moved our seats.
It would be nice to watch movies and chat while looking at the TV opposite the bed.
During the many stories I had told Saran before, I remembered that she often watched videos, dramas, and movies.
Since tomorrow would be a day off, I wanted to watch a movie I usually couldn’t due to time constraints.
So we headed toward the bed.
Between the bed and the TV, I spread out a small table and moved the food and drinks there.
Because it was a one-room apartment, I might need to spray a lot of air freshener tomorrow, but… it was only today anyway.
Besides, even without spraying a lot of air freshener… for some reason, there was always a pleasant scent in my bed.
“What kind of movies do you usually watch?”
“…I don’t watch action much.”
“Since there are a lot of real-life things to do?”
“Yes. So I usually watch classic masterpieces or movies that came out quite a while ago.”
“Ahaha…”
We lay together on the bed and watched the movie while talking about that.
The bed was quite wide, so we had even slept together as three people before.
Even if we lay with some distance between us and no skin touching, we could still feel comfortable and continue talking about the movie.
“Want to watch something?”
“…I want to watch the movie I saw just now.”
“Hmm… Is it a romance? Have you watched these a lot?”
“I rarely watch romance normally, but it’s late at night. It would be better if it’s a bit… mellow.”
“Ahaha.”
It was definitely late at night.
Everything was completely quiet, and checking my phone showed it was past midnight.
Rather than something noisy, a mellow and quiet one would be better.
For that reason, we decided to watch the one Saran had chosen together.
Before starting the movie, we mixed one last cocktail with the vodka and fruit drink and set it on the table in front of the bed, then lay back comfortably.
“It should be fun.”
“…Yeah, I think so.”
Saran and I started watching the movie together on the bed.
Usually, she supported my back with a pillow a little larger than my upper body every time I fell asleep.
I covered her warmly with the blanket.
“Oh…”
“……..”
“Wow…”
“……..”
We watched the movie together like that.
It was interesting in many ways.
It wasn’t noisy, but it was quite lively, and the name was fitting for the fun, so I reacted multiple times while watching.
Saran beside me was so quiet that she occasionally turned her head toward me.
Because her reflexes were fast, every time our eyes met, it was her unique eyes, but… well, she was quiet anyway.
Maybe she was just watching the movie quietly.
While thinking that, I simply enjoyed the movie.
We started the movie in the middle of the night, and by dawn, Saran and I were talking about everything while I unknowingly closed my eyes and fell asleep.
It was a bit of a shame, but since it was the best way to end the day since the kidnapping, I didn’t mind that little regret much.