What's the harm between us?
What's the harm between us?
I didn't sleep a wink.
It was because worries and thoughts kept me up all night.
How I could approach Seo-ah and Yu-na to make things blow over like nothing happened.
'I'm at a loss.'
At least it was a relief that neither of them seemed to have told Ji-eun-nim.
With Seo-ah, it was basically a situation where I'd been caught masturbating, so I was worried about how to even explain it.
And I was going crazy because I couldn't figure out how to bring up the fact that I'd blatantly grabbed Yu-na's butt.
I spent the night wide awake agonizing over it, but I couldn't reach a conclusion—
And eventually, morning arrived.
"Haa..."
I just wish Yu-na would approach me like nothing happened, just like yesterday morning.
I'd rather she tease me and call me a pervert.
That's what I thought, but.
Considering the atmosphere at the dinner table yesterday evening, it was unlikely that would happen again.
Click—
I took a deep breath, opened the door, and headed to the living room.
True to a Sunday morning, the quiet living room greeted me, as if no one had woken up yet.
I sat on the sofa, which felt like a bed of nails rather than comfortable, and turned on the TV.
As I kept worrying, using the sound from the screen as white noise—
I heard the sound of a door opening from the hallway.
"..."
It was Yu-na.
The situation of Yu-na and me being in the living room before Ji-eun-nim woke up was similar to yesterday morning.
But the situation was completely different.
As soon as Yu-na made eye contact with me, she froze for a moment.
...The time to apologize had come.
I finally made up my mind and spoke.
"U-um, Noona."
But then.
The moment I tried to speak, Yu-na approached and cut me off.
She walked right up to me with her head slightly bowed.
"..."
I waited for her to speak, feeling like I was about to be executed—
"I, I'm fine, so..."
"...?"
Yu-na's voice leaked out as if it were crawling inside.
The ears and cheeks visible past her short bob were dyed red.
She kept her gaze on the floor and continued, almost whispering.
"Yesterday, that... it was just... y-you can do it again next time."
My brain stopped for a moment.
Again next time?
That thing from yesterday?
While I was blankly staring at her, repeating those words in my head, Yu-na forced a smile while her face turned even redder.
"Y-you perverted jerk..."
Same words as usual, completely different tension from usual.
It seemed like Yu-na threw out her usual teasing to try and break the awkward tension between us, but perhaps because she couldn't hide her embarrassment, the atmosphere became even stranger.
Yu-na couldn't stand that atmosphere any longer, quickly turned around, and ran into her room as if fleeing.
Bang!
The sound of the door closing echoed in the living room.
I sat on the sofa, repeating only the words I had just heard.
'...You can do it again next time.'
That one sentence completely occupied my mind.
With Seo-ah, who came out half-asleep after being woken up by Ji-eun-nim, being the last one, the four of us sat around the dining table.
It was to have a simple breakfast.
Unlike yesterday evening, the atmosphere had become harmonious again.
It was thanks to Yu-na returning to her usual bright tension after our encounter in the morning.
"Hey, did you pull an all-nighter doing assignments? You've practically got bruises under your eyes."
I also didn't miss her consideration and matched the tension as much as possible, just like usual.
Ji-eun-nim watched the two of us chatting as if nothing had happened, narrowing her brows slightly, but then relaxed her expression as if she felt relieved, even though something was strange.
"Everyone looks a bit tired today. Eat slowly."
The meal continued in that light atmosphere.
As daily conversation flowed and the meal was almost finished, Ji-eun-nim brought something up.
"Oh, right, since it's Sunday, I'm planning to do a deep clean. I want to tidy up every corner of the house for the first time in a while. Can you guys help if you have time?"
Yu-na put down her chopsticks and answered immediately.
"Oh, sounds good! I needed to tidy up my room too."
Seo-ah nodded quietly, and I also expressed my agreement since I didn't have anything busy to do.
Ji-eun-nim smiled as if satisfied and continued.
"Then shall we start by dividing the roles? I'll wipe the windows and look over the house to tidy up in general. Yu-na, you use the vacuum, and Si-woo, could you do some mopping where Yu-na cleaned? Seo-ah... how about you tidy up your desk or drawers and throw away what you don't need?"
Everyone nodded as if they had no complaints.
"Then let's start right after breakfast. Cleaning the house properly for the first time in a while will make us feel better."
Vrrr—
After breakfast, we started our assigned tasks.
Yu-na walked around the living room with the vacuum, cleaning diligently, and I followed the spots she passed, pushing a mop to tidy up behind her.
"Aren't you coming quickly?"
"Ah, I'm coming, I told you!"
It was a relief that it didn't become awkward again just because it was the two of us.
Yu-na, who had been grumbling while pushing the vacuum in front of me, suddenly stopped.
And then suddenly—
"Ah~ my back is a bit sore?"
Returning to that artificial tone again.
She put the vacuum aside and grabbed her butt with both hands.
Her thin pajamas were pulled taut along her waist, and Yu-na's butt silhouette was blatantly revealed.
"...!!"
Memories of yesterday flashed through my mind, and something surged inside my heart.
I averted my gaze, trying not to look in Yu-na's direction, and thought.
'...She's completely decided to tease me this way now.'
I felt like I had been caught with a major weakness, but it was certainly a relief that it ended at just this much.
As I pretended not to see Yu-na's movements and didn't respond—
"Pretending not to see, huh... Why, why don't you try touching it again like yesterday?"
She's blatantly provoking me.
"...Huh?"
When I asked back at that explicit provocation.
"Try biting and sucking on it like yesterday~"
"A-ah, no, when did I?!"
She framed me for something I hadn't even done, so my voice got loud for a moment.
"Is something going on over there—?"
Because of that, Ji-eun-nim asked if something was up, as if she had heard the loud noise from far away.
After roughly answering loudly that it was nothing, I looked at Yu-na again, and she was smiling.
"Pervert."
I ignored her insults again and just tried to pick up the mop to do some mopping.
"Why are you so shy about touching Noona's butt?"
"...?"
I stopped because she suddenly said something I couldn't understand.
Then—
Grab.
"What are you..."
Yu-na grabbed one of my hands,
Squish♡
"?!!"
And placed it right on her butt.
I froze in that state due to the sudden turn of events, and Yu-na continued.
"T-this much is nothing between us, right? So it means you can do it anytime... right."
No matter how I looked at it, it sounded like an excuse.
However, my head, which had become complicated enough to burst due to unknown dopamine, was in a state where I couldn't distinguish what was the right thing to say.
'...Because it's Noona, I can touch this anytime?'
"W-what's the big deal between family...?"
I was even more confused because of Yu-na, who answered as if she had read my thoughts.
No, actually, I know.
That Yu-na is just doing this to tease me.
That touching a butt with such explicit gestures is something only lovers would do.
But, but still.
Isn't this something Yu-na permitted first?
The intention behind saying this must be to see me looking shy, but...
Anyway, isn't permission, permission?
As my thoughts flowed increasingly to the extreme—
Unconsciously, a little force went into the hand gripping Yu-na's butt.
"Haa...♡?!"
"...Ah."
I took my hand off at the sudden moan and looked up at Yu-na, and even though she was blushing, she wasn't backing down at all.
"Y-yeah. I told you this much is nothing, right?"
Even though she was flustered herself, she took a stance that she would absolutely not back down.
...Since it's come to this, just.
"Really? Then I'm really going to touch it whenever I want?"
"O, oh...?"
I decided to go a bit harder.
"Why? Didn't you say what's the big deal between us?"
"Th, that..."
I don't even know why I'm doing this.
Am I hoping Yu-na will back down and cancel what she just said?
Or am I really trying to gain the right to touch it whenever I want?
"...Go ahead."
"..."
Regardless of my wishes.
The result was the latter.
Somehow, I finished cleaning and mopping the living room.
'What on earth is she thinking?'
But my head was still complicated because of Yu-na.
My feelings became even more complicated as I recalled her comment from the morning, 'You can do it again next time.'
Did Yu-na really go to such extreme lengths simply because she didn't want to lose?
Or, perhaps...
"Si-woo, you're done with the living room, right?"
Just when I was sitting on the living room sofa, worrying by myself, Ji-eun-nim approached and spoke to me.
Thanks to that, I was able to cut off the thoughts that were trying to flow in a strange direction and answer.
"Yeah, I just finished."
Since Ji-eun-nim and Seo-ah decided to clean the room floors, I had only vacuumed the living room for now.
"Yu-na is vacuuming from my room first, you know? I'll be cleaning your room in the meantime, so could you take the laundry out of the washing machine, put it in the dryer, and run it?"
"Got it."
Since it wasn't a difficult task, I answered without much thought and got up from my seat.
As I headed to the washing machine to sort the laundry, I felt like I was forgetting something.
'Was there something in my room?'
I feel like I'm forgetting something important.
