Episode 36: As If to Overwrite ※
Today was Yuno’s last day at the part-time job.
Once today was over — surely Yuno and I could stay together, always.
No one would take her from me. We’d be together inside this home, just the two of us, forever.
Such a petty, black, hopeless feeling was churning, around and around.
＊＊＊
The morning meeting had ended, and Saeko and I were on our way back to the floor from our cigarette break.
From down the corridor, Yuno came walking toward us, pushing her cart, dressed in her usual cleaning uniform.
Something deep in my chest gave a sharp throb.
Yuno’s eyes turned, slowly, toward us. Only her eyes were visible; I couldn’t read her expression. Her large eyes blinked a few times, watching, quiet.
Then, for just an instant — her gaze slid toward Saeko.
…Right.
She really is still thinking about her, after all.
Just thinking that made my chest ache, slow and raw.
After we passed each other, Saeko, walking beside me, suddenly stopped.
She turned back and stood, staring at Yuno’s retreating back.
Her face looked like she wanted to say something. Her mouth opened — and then, in the end, she lowered her eyes and said nothing.
Saeko turned forward again and started walking. The brisk, familiar click of her heels wasn’t there this time.
I, too, walked on a little further before stopping, and looked back.
Yuno was looking this way.
Was she looking at Saeko?
I never imagined pretending not to notice could hurt this much.
If I could just hear everything, get it all out in the open, how much easier would it be. But if I did hear it — everything might fall apart.
Jealousy, and possessiveness.
Black, heavy feelings coiled around me. It felt like my heart was being wrung in a fist, and I couldn’t breathe properly.
＊＊＊
Eleven in the morning.
Knock, knock, knock. The sound echoed in the president’s office.
“Excuse me.”
Yuno came in.
Her small back, moving through the cleaning with practiced ease — unbearably dear to me. As if the heat of all our nights together was rising back up, something deep inside me throbbed, slow.
Click.
I moved, casually, toward the door, and quietly turned the lock.
Then I circled behind Yuno and held her gently. Resting my chin on her shoulder, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her close.
“Hey now, we’re at work, you know? Madam President?”
Yuno said it, laughing softly. But she made no move to get away.
I turned her to face me, pulled her mask down to her chin, took off her cap, and pressed my lips to hers.
I’d only meant it to be a light touch at first — but before I knew it, it had slowed, lengthened, our tongues meeting, deepening. In the quiet of the president’s office, only sweet breath and the soft sound of it dissolved into the air.
When our lips finally parted, slowly, a thin silver thread drew out between them.
Yuno, eyes downcast, cheeks faintly coloured, dropped a quiet line.
“What’s gotten into you… so bold, all of a sudden.”
“I locked the door.”
“Ahah, couldn’t hold back, huh.”
Her voice carried a teasing edge, and yet something sweet underneath it too.
“…Quiet.”
“…This is the last time we get to do a secret kiss at the office like this, isn’t it.”
She said it, turning back toward me, eyes lowering. Her fingers found the buttons of my shirt.
One, then another, slowly undone.
Bare fingers slipped quietly through the gap in my shirt. Fingertips crawling over my skin, tracing my chest — found it, as if to say, flicking at the peak, pinching it lightly.
“…!”
A sound nearly slipped out. I bit down on my lower lip, reflexively, holding it back. I could feel my own face slowly reddening.
“That face. Cute. I want to tease you until you make a sound.”
She said it, and kept gently flicking, pinching, the tip beneath my bra, again and again.
Lips joined, tongues winding slowly together, her palm wrapped around my chest, kneading — my breath alone kept climbing, higher and higher.
What am I doing.
In the middle of work, no less.
Losing to my own desire like this — truly pathetic.
Pathetic. And yet. It feels good, and I don’t want her to stop.
That’s when —
Clack, clack, clack —
The sound of heels in the corridor snapped me back to myself. The deep kiss we’d been sharing stopped, dead still.
“Yes, thank you for your continued business. Kirishima speaking. — Yes, regarding the Q3 proposal.”
Saeko’s voice.
She seemed to be on the phone right outside the president’s office.
The instant I tried to pull away from Yuno, put some distance between us —
Yuno pressed her lips back against mine.
Sucking gently at my lower lip, her wet tongue tracing slowly along the rim of it.
“As for the specifications you requested, our company is giving it serious, positive consideration.”
Her smooth tongue slipped, easily, into my mouth. Tracing slowly along my teeth with that damp sensation, winding around, searching for my tongue.
A slick heat spread through my mouth, and my breath threatened to come apart.
“Regarding the cost concerns, we’d like to provide a revised estimate as soon as——”
Yuno’s arms wrapped around my back, pulling me in. She gripped my shirt, tight, in her fist.
I answered her — kissing deeper. Pressing my tongue against hers, winding together, tracing the inside of her mouth. I wrapped my arms around her back, holding her tight in return.
Juuh, chupu —
The wet sound released from our lips grew warmer, gradually.
“Yes, including coordination on the schedule, we’ll share this internally right away.”
Saeko’s voice stayed calm, composed — while, separated from her by only a single door, our lips pressed together deeper, more fiercely. Like carnivores devouring prey.
Our tongues melted together, sucking, being sucked — sealing each other’s mouths shut against the sweet sounds threatening to escape.
“Fh… nnh…”
Only those two small voices echoed through the room.
Even with the damp trace of saliva smeared at the corners of our lips, neither of us moved to pull away.
“Thank you for confirming. Yes, excuse me.”
Clack, clack, clack —
The sound of heels faded away down the corridor.
Even so, Yuno didn’t pull back for a while longer.
When our lips finally parted, Yuno’s lips were faintly swollen, red, glossy and wet.
Her face was flushed with heat, and at the rim of her lashes, tears glinted, welling.
“…I wonder if the person outside could hear.”
She said it, sticking out her tongue, playful, as if to cover for the tears.
What feeling had Yuno been kissing me with, just now.
The moment I saw that face, several feelings surged up at once, deep in my chest. Tenderness. The wish to never let her go. And then — an inescapable jealousy, and a piercing ache.
All of it, tangled into a mess, soaked slowly, all the way down to the core of me.