Episode 42: Please. Let Me Make It In Time.
The next morning, Yuno’s fever had dropped to just under thirty-seven.
“Right, I’m going in to the office today.”
Having finished breakfast, I said it while pulling my arms through my suit jacket.
Yuno peeked just her eyes out from under the duvet, watching me steadily.
After a pause, a deliberately exaggerated cough — kehk, kehk.
“What.”
“My fever might go up again.”
“You’ll be fine. Call me if it does.”
“…Please. Work from home, just for today?”
A small catch in my throat.
Asked like that, with those wet eyes holding a faint glimmer — my feet simply stopped, no matter what.
Lately Yuno had grown shameless about how she asks for things. Genuinely troublesome. Unreasonably cute, and I can’t bring myself to push her away.
“…Fine, I get it. Just for today. But I’ve got a backlog of work, so absolutely no distracting me.”
I sat on the edge of the bed, checking my schedule on my phone, saying it bluntly.
“I know, I know.”
Even as she said it, Yuno slipped an arm smoothly around my waist.
Right after saying it, no less.
“Then, one kiss before work?”
“Excuse me?”
“Come on, quick.”
Propped on one elbow on the bed, eyes gently closed — that face was unbearably dear, and before I knew it, our lips had met, light.
But I couldn’t let go.
What had started as the lightest touch deepened, gradually. Shifting angle, again and again. Eventually our tongues met, winding slowly together.
“…Mn… that’s enough… Yuno…”
Before I knew it, I’d been pushed down onto the bed.
Yuno’s fingers worked the buttons of my blouse open, deftly, one by one. Her lips dropped to my neck, slid down toward my chest. Each time she pressed a kiss-mark with a wet sound, heat seemed to seep up from under my skin.
Her knee slowly wedged its way between my legs. Every time it pressed, slow and deliberate, that place grew warm, grew wet. My head was melting. My whole body wanted Yuno.
I’m happy.
I love Yuno.
Unbearably dear to me.
Instead of putting it into words, I wound my tongue with hers, again and again, deep.
Buzz, buzz, buzz.
The phone in my hand vibrated, and I glanced at it — the screen lit up.
A call from Matsuyama. Work. I should answer.
I thought that.
…I couldn’t answer.
I tossed the phone off the side of the bed, wrapped both arms around Yuno’s back, pulled her in, held her tight, kissed her deep again.
I’m the worst. I know that.
I knew it was wrong.
And still, I couldn’t stop.
This time felt happy enough to drive me out of my mind.
＊＊＊
Around five in the evening.
I shut down my laptop. There were still tasks I’d wanted to clear, but I called it there for the day.
Yuno was still in her pajamas, lying on the sofa.
I called over to her from the table.
“How about udon tonight? Think you can eat?”
“Mm, I want to. I’m hungry.”
“I’ll try making it, then.”
“Eh— you can cook, Reina?”
Yuno peeked her face out from the sofa, narrowing her eyes, mischievous.
“Don’t mock me. I can manage udon.”
“Don’t burn it, okay?”
“I know. I’m heading out to buy ingredients.”
Yuno shook with laughter, bright and unrestrained.
Watching that out of the corner of my eye, I swung my bag onto my shoulder and stepped out of the apartment.
The instant I closed the door, an unnameable, unpleasant premonition brushed past my chest.
Just my imagination, I told myself, dismissing it, and started walking.
＊＊＊
A supermarket about ten minutes’ walk from the building.
I picked ingredients while checking a recipe on my phone.
Ginger and green onion — both good for colds, so I got extra of each.
While standing in the checkout line, I noticed a chat notification on my phone.
From Saeko. Fifteen minutes ago.
“Hey~ You home right now?”
“Just finished a client visit near your place. Got some good donuts, let’s eat them together~”
Eh——
The instant I read it, my heart gave a hard, violent lurch.
“Heading over now.”
Now?
The blood drained from my whole body, all at once.
One second of pure white blankness in my head, and the next, my body was already moving. My hands shook as I paid.
I shoved the groceries into the bag and bolted out of the supermarket.
Please.
Let me make it in time.
Yuno, please be asleep.
Please don’t answer the door.
Please don’t see Saeko.
Something too pathetic to even call a prayer, something closer to a wordless scream, was spinning round and round inside my chest.
Every time my feet struck the ground, my heart kept hammering, loud enough to hurt.
I reached the building. I wanted to run up the stairs rather than wait for the elevator, but caught myself and waited anyway.
The doors took forever to open, and I jabbed the button over and over, unable to stand the wait.
I turned the corner of the corridor —
And there she was. A tall woman in a grey suit.
— Saeko.
A few more steps brought the entrance into view.
And there——
Saeko was holding Yuno.
My feet stopped.
I didn’t go any further.
My vision warped, slipping into something like slow motion.
The two of them were looking at each other, and slowly, Saeko tilted her head.
Leaning down over Yuno.
From where I stood, Saeko’s back blocked the view.
But surely, their lips had met.
Thud — my heart gave one heavy beat.
And then, as if everything that had been churning inside me until that moment had simply stopped — my whole body went quiet.
Strangely, I couldn’t hear anything at all.
I only thought, ah.
I thought, I see.
I thought, of course.
Something deep in my chest ached, slow — and even that felt like it was happening somewhere far away.
Like a wave pulling back out, something slipping smoothly out of me.
The bag in my hand rustled, faintly.
The sound of the green onions shifting inside, maybe.
I’d bought them because they were good for Yuno’s cold.
How absurd.
Something close to laughter rose up in me.
I dropped my eyes to the floor and let out one slow breath.
A long, quiet breath.
Before I knew it, I had turned around.
Not angry. Not crying. Just careful not to make a sound.
I turned my back on the two of them and rode the elevator down, quietly.
I stepped outside the building.
The air outside was humid, oppressively so.