Episode 4: Mio-chan — Have You Ever Done It?
Twenty-odd minutes from the station with Riwa-san’s arm over my shoulder, one hand around her waist.
Her body was thinner than I’d imagined. Her breath — warm, every so often catching my ear — made my heart do something strange.
The night air had turned colder. We walked to her building.
No lift, second floor.
By the time we’d made it up the stairs, I was the one out of breath.
“Thanks for the escort, seriously~”
She unlocked the door and laughed, soft and loose.
Even this far into drunk, Riwa-san still looked at you when she smiled.
Which annoyed me. Or flustered me. I couldn’t decide which.
Inside, ylang-ylang drifted past my nose, and the whole room felt just slightly too close — wherever I stood.
I don’t know why, but it felt unmistakably lived in, and I couldn’t figure out where to look.
“Let’s shower first, yeah? Do you have — like, underwear?”
“Oh — yes, I have a spare set in my bag. For all-nighters at the office, just in case…”
“Oh my god, Mio-chan, you’re too responsible. Don’t let work swallow you whole, yeah?”
“I mean… it’s just…”
“Me, I always make the last train no matter what! And even when it’s crazy busy I take a shower, no excuses~”
She tossed me a towel while she laughed,
“This’ll work, right? Should be about your size~”
— and handed me a T-shirt, and a pair of shorts with a hem length that was, honestly, alarming.
“Um, these are — aren’t these really short…?”
“They’re normal? It’s just loungewear~”
…They are not normal.
I think this might be the first time in my life I’ve worn anything like this.
And they smell — God, they smell completely like Riwa-san.
“Okay, sorry, I’m going in first, just hang tight~”
I watched her head toward the bathroom, and then I stared at the floor with total, single-minded focus.
◇◆◇◆◇
“Thank you for the shower…”
After Riwa-san I borrowed the bathroom, but I was so convinced I wasn’t allowed to look at anything that I retained absolutely nothing of the experience.
When I came back out still towelling my hair, Riwa-san was already stretched out on the futon, scrolling her phone.
Just an oversized T-shirt.
— That’s a bit much for loungewear, isn’t it?
The line of her legs drifted into my field of vision. I lost track of where to look all over again.
“Oh wow, Mio-chan, wet hair is so cute~. Love that for us, very girlfriend-coded~♡”
“Please — don’t say things like that, even as a joke — !”
“See, that right there — also cute~”
She poked my thigh as she said it.
“Hey Mio-chan, wanna stay up a bit longer~?”
“…What?”
“We’re not really in sleep mode yet, are we? I’m gonna watch something~”
She propped her phone against the pillow and tapped play.
“Heeey, welcome back everyone~!” — a bright voice leaping out of the screen.
(Oh — that voice —)
“I’ve been so into this VTuber lately~”
“Oh — I — me too, actually! I was going to catch tonight’s stream live but then the drinks happened, so I was going to watch the archive later — !”
My voice got too loud before I could stop it.
Riwa-san looked over and her eyes creased with delight.
“Wait, seriously?! Okay, okay — which stream did you start from? Clip fan or live viewer?”
“N-no, I’ve been watching since back when she did let’s plays… I mostly go through the archives…”
(— I’m, I’m talking too much. When it’s something I love I always start rambling, I know it’s a bad habit — this is embarrassing — !)
“Oh my god, a full nerd~?! Like, rapid-fire nerd Mio-chan, that’s amazing~!”
Laughing, she patted the futon beside her.
“So let’s watch a bit of tonight’s stream then~?”
“Um — okay then…”
I sat down next to her, and the warmth of the futon and the smell of her shampoo mixed together.
Her face was close when she laughed at the screen. Concentrating on it was not happening.
After a while her shoulder drifted over, her arm barely grazing mine.
Two of us hunched over the small phone screen at that distance.
It should have been nothing — just a nothing kind of time — and yet why was my heart going like that.
The progress bar had made it about a quarter through when —
“Hmm, I’m not quite sleepy but I should probably head to bed… oh, I forgot to set out your futon.”
Riwa-san switched her phone off and stood up.
Casual as anything, she laid out a second futon.
— Single width. Tucked right alongside hers.
“This spare duvet work for you?”
“…Oh, yeah… wait, here? Right next to…?”
“It’s a small room, what do you want me to do.”
“…”
“What? You conscious of me or something~?”
“I — no I’m not!!”
My voice cracked on the denial.
With nothing to say, I reached for my phone on instinct —
and the screen was black, and the only thing looking back at me was my own face.
◇◆◇◆◇
I was in the futon and I couldn’t sleep.
Even with my eyes closed, Riwa-san’s voice kept ringing in my head.
Her closeness, her words, her smell.
All of it too near, too much to process.
“Um… this is actually the first time I’ve ever stayed over somewhere…”
The voice that slipped out of me was embarrassingly unsteady, even to my own ears.
“Oh yeah? Then today’s an anniversary, I guess.”
The murmur back was quiet,
somehow very gentle,
and because of that, sleep felt even further away.
Only the clock marking time with its ticking.
Somewhere in the room, the fridge humming faintly.
Riwa-san’s breathing — not yet the sound of sleep.
“…Hey, Mio-chan. You still awake, right?”
“…Yes, still…”
“Heh, figured~”
The sound of sheets shifting beside me.
She stirred — pushed herself up —
and then, as if draping herself over me,
“…Mio-chan~, I’m lonely~”
Riwa-san flopped down on top of me, over the covers.
“Play with me a bit more~? Come on~?”
She rolled around on top of me, pressing her head into my chest —
What — what is happening right now?!
“Hey — come on, seriously, you’re heavy — !”
Her face was close. Her breath was warm.
A voice that blurred the line between teasing and something else.
How much longer is this person going to use me as a toy.
“Liar~? I’ve lost weight actually. Here, feel~”
She flipped up her shirt. A pale stomach caught the moonlight.
“No — I am absolutely not touching that — !”
Soft laughter, and then fingertips moved along my shoulder through thin fabric, curling toward my neck.
Carefully gathered my hair to one side —
and then, just there, behind my ear — I thought she touched it.
“Wh — hey — what are you — “
My heart was pounding hard enough to hurt.
I couldn’t move, not like this.
“Hey~… Mio-chan…”
Her breath curled warm against my ear.
“Have you ever… had sex?”
— Just that part, so quiet.
Riwa-san’s fingers rested against the side of my neck — and stopped.