This Is the Dignity of a Composed Adult...
"Even if you did hear my voice, don't you think you ought to check who it is before you open the door? What were you planning to do if it hadn't been me?"
"...Yes."
"And no matter how much of a rush you were in, you should have come out with your clothes on properly. Before this is ever a question of man or woman, it's a matter of basic manners."
"I-I'm sorry."
"And what kind of logic is staying up all night because you're too scared and nervous to sleep? If you dozed off halfway, the stream would fall apart? No matter how I look at it, streaming on no sleep is far more dangerous."
"Y-you're right."
Once I had straightened my clothes and the room and let Miss Koga inside, I was, predictably, taking a full barrage of scolding. Every last bit of it was my fault, so there wasn't a shred of room for excuses. If there was any mercy in the situation, it was only that I was enduring the lecture with my head bowed in penance.
Honestly, it wasn't even the voice through headphones the way it usually was. Just hearing her speak right in front of me was enough to make my head spin. If I'd had to look her in the face, I was certain I would have felt sick all the way down to my stomach.
"If you never caused any trouble, I wouldn't need to say any of this. But you get into accidents all the time, Izumi. That's why I have to be even more—"
Even so, I couldn't just keep taking this forever. This house was Mom's, of course, but right now neither Mom nor my sister was home, which made me the de facto owner. On top of that, with the memories of my past life, my mental age was well into my forties. Miss Koga was twenty-four at most. That was a gap of more than fifteen years. Time to show her the dignity of a home-owning woman in her forties.
"...Is there something you want to say?"
Perhaps she had realized she was laying into me too hard, because Miss Koga finally left an opening. Heh. The prelude to my counterattack, at last.
"Th-that's... th-this, o-our, our house..."
"Hm? What was that?"
"...N-nothing."
"Haa. Honestly, if something like this happens again..."
Maybe I should let it go just this once. They do say the strong can afford to be generous....
"So? You said you just woke up, which means you haven't had lunch, right?"
"Ah, no."
It had only been about an hour, but Miss Koga's scolding—which had felt closer to an eternity—was finally over. From the middle onward it had been almost the same lecture on repeat, and still I hadn't managed a single excuse all the way to the end. I didn't think even Mom had ever scolded me like this.
"It's three-thirty, but... you should still eat a little. I'll use the kitchen."
"Yes, yes. ...Pardon?"
Before I could stop her, Miss Koga was already on her feet and heading for the kitchen.
"W-wait, Miss Koga. I can make something myself, i-it's fine."
"Hm? You're eating late partly because of me, so I'll cook."
I followed her into the kitchen a beat too late, trying to talk her out of it, but she answered with a smile, as if it were nothing at all.
"Still, I really should be the one—"
"Hmm. Don't tell me you don't trust my cooking?"
"N-no! It's not that..."
"Then trust me just this once. I cook well enough."
Kuh. What was this overwhelming maman power...
"All right, then. What should I make..."
"How is it?"
"I-it's good."
The late lunch Miss Koga set out was golden fried rice, miso soup, and a stir-fry of bacon and bean sprouts. Just as that confident air of hers had promised, everything she made was delicious. The miso soup was clean and refreshing, needless to say, and the bacon and bean-sprout stir-fry carried almost none of the greasy heaviness oil usually leaves behind.
What surprised me most was the golden fried rice. Every time I made it, the egg clumped or the rice went soggy, but Miss Koga's had none of those problems—perfect gold, the grains light and separate. To think the final boss standing between me and my dream of becoming a golden-fried-rice master would turn out to be Miss Koga....
"So what were you originally planning to eat?"
"Uh, um. I probably would've just made do with c-cup noodles..."
When I was home alone at lunch, I usually couldn't be bothered and settled for whatever was easy.
"...Seriously?"
"Y-yes. I, um, lunch is usually, um, like that."
At my answer, Miss Koga suddenly looked me up and down. H-had I done something wrong?
"Whether you were born that way, or you're just still young..."
"Yes?"
"It's nothing."
With that, Miss Koga scoffed and looked away. That said, it felt strange to hear the word young when Miss Koga herself looked the way she did. Just earlier she had been so short she'd used a chair as a stepstool to reach the kitchen counter. Anyone who didn't know better would probably have found the sight rather precious.
"...Izumi. You just had another weird thought, didn't you."
"Huh? N-no?! I was just marveling because the r-rice is really, really g-good!"
Those pitch-black eyes, like a midnight sky, stabbed straight into me. Deep purple hair with a calm sheen, paired with that sharp impression—honestly, it was a little bit, a lot, scary.
"Hmmmm."
And another thing. How had Miss Koga been reading every thought in my head since last time? Maybe she really was a lot scarier than I'd thought....
"Haaaa..."
Came thirty minutes early for nothing. With that thought, Suzuha let out a long sigh. To be honest, she was pretty worn out, and no wonder. She had been standing outside for over an hour in the middle of summer. If she had known it would turn out like this, she should have brought the car. Izumi's house had more than enough space to park.
Her back was already damp with sweat, and whether it was a touch of heatstroke or not, her head felt faintly dizzy.
"Is nobody home?!"
She had already pressed the doorbell more than fifty times and placed nearly thirty private calls on Misscode. She didn't even want to count the DMs. At first she had assumed that, since she'd arrived thirty minutes early, Izumi was showering or tidying her room, but the moment it passed 1:50 she struck that possibility from her mind. This was clearly a case of Izumi being asleep, or not home at all. There was no way Izumi had gone out, though, so Suzuha concluded the odds she was asleep were one hundred percent.
"Miss Kaino! You're not ignoring me on purpose, are you?!"
Clearing a throat that was starting to sting, Suzuha called for her once more. And a moment later, a response came back at last.
"...sorry?!"
"I-I came out just like this!"
The front door burst open, and out came Izumi in her pajamas. The sight left Suzuha thoroughly flustered. The sleepwear she'd come outside in was more than a little disheveled.
"...W-well, I did think something like this might happen."
"U-um, I..."
"F-first, let's get inside. Quickly."
"Wh-what am I supposed to d-do..."
The buttons of her pajama top were undone, so her cleavage and navel were on full display, and of course the underwear underneath was perfectly visible too. Her bottoms had slipped a little as well, exposing her hips along with her panties. If anyone had seen her outside, they would have been fully justified in taking her for an exhibitionist pervert. Izumi, however, seemed to have absolutely no idea that she was dressed like that.
"I said get inside, quickly!"
"M-Miss Koga?"
"Your clothes! Izumi, your clothes!"
Only when Suzuha pointed it out herself did Izumi finally look down at her pajamas.
"Eeeek!"
She let out that pathetic shriek and slammed the front door hard enough to go bang.
"...Tidy up quickly and open it again."
"...Yes."
If there was any saving grace, it was that no one had been passing by. Suzuha thought so as she looked up at the sky. It was viciously hot—perfect weather, if you wanted to play a horror game.
"So what were you originally planning to eat?"
At the question, Izumi tilted her head for a moment before she answered. Without meeting Suzuha's eyes at all, of course.
"Uh, um. I probably would've just made do with c-cup noodles..."
"...Seriously?"
"Y-yes. I, um, lunch is usually, um, like that."
Liar. The thought passed through Suzuha's mind before she could stop it. She usually got by on cup noodles for lunch, and still had skin and a figure like that? Swallowing her shock, Suzuha looked her up and down.
Izumi's light brown hair had a soft sheen and swayed, glossy enough that anyone could see it. Her skin was clean, without a single blemish, and the figure Suzuha had glimpsed thanks to that earlier mistake had nothing she could find fault with. Like a doll. No—cuter than a doll. That was Izumi.
And that appearance belonged to someone who didn't pay the slightest attention to her diet. If she managed herself on the side, that would be one thing, but Suzuha knew Izumi's personality far too well to believe she would make that kind of effort. At most, it would be a few very simple exercises.
"Whether you were born that way, or you're just still young..."
"Yes?"
"It's nothing."
If she claimed she didn't feel envious as another woman, it would be a lie. But she had no desire to show such a childish feeling when she was supposed to be the adult here, so Suzuha scoffed and looked away.
After she had kept her eyes elsewhere for a little while, Izumi, for some reason, looked up at her with a sullen face. A strangely subtle gaze. Even Suzuha couldn't actually read someone's thoughts, and yet somehow she was certain. Right now, Izumi was definitely thinking something quite rude.
"...Izumi. You just had another weird thought, didn't you."
"Huh? N-no?! I was just marveling because the r-rice is really, really g-good!"
Suzuha had only given her a slight glare as she said it, and that alone made Izumi hunch her shoulders and drop her gaze straight down. Frightened like that, she looked like a little rabbit.
"Hmmmm."
She's cute, so I'll let it slide. Suzuha thought so, and quietly smiled. Izumi, of course, couldn't see that smile.
"K-Ko-Konzumi~. Today, j-just like I said last time, I'm going to play the h-horror game Dawn Never Breaks."
"H-hey, listen. I watched the teaser for that game and it was s-so scary that I asked my manager if I could take today off, you know? She shut me down on the spot and told me not to say weird things. Isn't that too much?"
"Miss Koga is, um, s-sitting on the bed b-behind me."
...Ah, right. As far as everyone knew, Miss Koga was just watching the playthrough with her over the stream, wasn't she? Well, it didn't really matter if word got out that this was an off-collab.
"Yeah. I'm the only one home right now, s-so I thought I'd be too scared by myself, and I a-asked Miss Koga."
"I-it's not that kind of relationship..."