Final Episode: Won’t You Start Your Life Over With Me? ※
Wheeling a small suitcase, heels clicking against the pavement, I walked.
I was headed for a weathered, wooden apartment building. The outer walls had paint peeling away in patches, the rusted stair railing rough and cold under the hand.
A different world entirely from the marble entrance of the high-rise tower I’d lived in until yesterday.
But this air, somehow, felt right.
I climbed the stairs and pressed the half-broken doorbell.
Ding-dong.
A short pause, then the door opened, and there stood a woman with blonde hair and brown eyes.
Maybe just out of bed — her soft hair was mussed, falling loose. The moment she saw my face, she broke into a soft, easy smile.
Then her gaze dropped, and she tilted her head at the suitcase.
“Hm? A suitcase?”
Blinking, sleepy — somehow unreasonably cute.
“Right. So, Yuno. I don’t have anywhere to live. So let me live here.”
“Eh? What’s that, what do you mean?”
“I gave up the apartment.”
“Gave it up? …Eh?”
“Not to support you. Not to be supported either. Separate finances. I’ll pay my proper half, rent and food, all of it.”
I explained it, flat and even. Even Yuno, for all her composure, looked troubled, brows drooping, giving a small “ehh” and a wry laugh.
Ever since the day we’d been reunited.
Yuno, looking like she might vanish at any moment — that thought had stayed lodged in a corner of my mind, refusing to leave.
I wanted to stay by her side, always — that alone, single-mindedly.
By the time I noticed, I was already moving.
Impulsive. I’d disposed of everything unnecessary — clothes, appliances, furniture — and sold the apartment. No attachment to any of it, letting it all go, easily.
I went up into Yuno’s room and started unpacking.
Taking things out of the suitcase, one by one.
A handful of casual clothes, pajamas, underwear, the bare minimum of toiletries and skincare.
And — the cat-ear roomwear I’d bought for Yuno, long ago.
That was all.
“Pfft… ahaha, you didn’t sell this?”
Yuno saw the cat-ear roomwear and laughed, hand pressed to her mouth. The corner of her lips lifting, adorable — I looked away on reflex.
“…Ugh, of course I didn’t sell it. It’s yours.”
“Uh-huh. Wanted me to wear it that badly, huh?”
“…Quiet. That’s not the point.”
Teased sideways like that, my face went hot.
Yuno, cradling a mug of hot milk in both hands, looked at me steadily.
“Did you really sell everything? Even that huge bed?”
“Yeah. Everything.”
“Ehh. You’ve got the money, you could’ve gotten a nice place.”
“It’s fine. A place to sleep is enough, whatever it is. Half goes to investment, half to savings. No telling what the future holds.”
Yuno still seemed not to have fully caught up with the situation, blinking, puzzled, again and again. Every time her long lashes moved, something in my chest pulled tight.
Before I knew it, I’d stood up and pulled her into a hug.
Yuno wrapped her arms gently around my waist too, gripping the back of my shirt, tight. The feel of those small hands came through, slowly, warm.
Close to her ear, I murmured, quiet.
“I’m stepping down as president too. Work will sort itself out somehow. The title, the big house — I don’t need any of it anymore.”
“Hehe… yeah.”
“…As long as Yuno’s beside me, that’s enough.”
“…Yeah.”
“Yuno, won’t you start your life over with me?”
Yuno, who’d had her face pressed to my chest, looked up sharply. Our eyes met, close. Her brown eyes wavered, just slightly, and then she started laughing, soft.
“Hey, what’s funny. I’m being serious.”
“Was that just now a proposal?”
“Not— that’s not, I just want to be together, that’s all!”
After laughing for a while, Yuno let out a breath and looked at me, eyes gentle.
“Reina, you really are out of your mind.”
“Out of my mind… what’s that supposed to mean. You’re pretty far gone yourself, you know.”
“Ahah, that’s fair too.”
Our faces drew close.
Lips meeting, barely touching, again and again. Slowly, it deepened.
When we finally parted, after a long moment, Yuno looked up at me, cheeks faintly flushed, eyes melted soft. Glossy, unbearably beautiful.
— Like.
Both of us said it at the same time, and laughed, soft, together.
Slowly, Yuno’s weight shifted onto me, and I was pressed down. A soft, yielding sensation against my ear.
“Reina. I like you… I love you…”
A sweet, melting voice whispered at my ear. After a soft, gentle bite at my earlobe, my clothes were slowly removed. I undressed Yuno in turn, slowly.
Bare skin against bare skin.
Yuno’s fingers, meanwhile, drifted lower, teasing, taking their time.
One finger, then two — with a slick, indecent sound, they pressed deep inside. My body jolted with each deliberate stroke that found the deepest place.
All shame forgotten now, sweet, full sounds spilled freely from my throat.
“Ah… no, I’m going to——”
My whole body grew slowly hot, my mind on the verge of going white — and then.
Yuno’s fingers, deep inside, stilled completely.
…Eh?
Her lips traced slowly along my ear, and through a ragged breath, she whispered, soft.
“Hey, Reina?”
“…What?”
“Promise me. You’ll never leave.”
She said it, looking straight at me. Those large eyes, deep enough to pull me in, glistened, wet.
“…I promise. I’ll always be by Yuno’s side.”
I squeezed her hand back, tight. With my other hand, I drew her back in close, her smooth skin clinging pleasantly against my palm.
Yuno narrowed her eyes, softly, the corner of her mouth lifting into a smile, rapturous.
That expression was so deeply alluring.
Before I could even think that’s unfair, her fingers began moving again, gradually fiercer.
My own voice grew louder, climbing.
“Hey, Reina. Say my name, lots?”
“Say my name, and feel good while you do it?”
Coaxing, and yet somehow commanding too — the whisper sent something deep inside me throbbing, hard.
“Yuno… Yuno…! Ah— I love you…! Ahh——”
My mind burst white, sweetness numbing all the way to my toes.
Every time my body jolted, I could tell, even myself — I was probably wearing an expression melted enough to be laughable.
“Mm, cute.”
Yuno narrowed her eyes, pleased, and gently cupped my cheek.
“…I’m happy. Getting to see this face of yours, every day.”
Wearing that bewitching smile, she stroked my cheek, slow. That smile was so beautiful, so unfairly so, that I worried I’d only fall for her more.
I buried my face against Yuno’s bare chest — warm, smooth, sweetly scented.
And as she stroked my head, slow, I was wrapped in a happiness beyond words.
＊＊＊
Night.
A single thin futon laid out on the six-tatami floor.
Outside the window, the old wood groaned with each gust of wind.
The noise of the high-rise I’d lived in until just yesterday already felt like something from a distant past.
“Ugh, it’s cramped…”
“Ah, was that a complaint?”
Yuno made a mock-angry face, brows drawn together, then immediately broke into laughter.
Naturally, we ended up curled together, me holding her. Faces close, noses touching.
Yuno’s lashes lowered, slow, close to mine.
“Reina.”
“Mm?”
“You’ll never leave? You promised, right?”
Her voice trembled, slightly, hoarse.
“I won’t leave. Even if Yuno tells me to.”
“Hehe, like I’d ever say that. …Stay with me until I die, okay?”
Sleepy, soft, almost a lullaby in how she said it.
“…Eh. No, isn’t that a bit much.”
“Ehh? You don’t want to?”
She pouted slightly, sulking, glaring at me, lightly. Unbearably cute.
“…Fine. Until you die. Together.”
Even to a promise that heavy, I found myself answering, almost before deciding to.
“Ahah. Mm, love you.”
Yuno’s face crumpled into a soft smile, and she pressed her forehead, rubbing, into my chest.
So dear, unbearably so. I pulled her slight back in, tighter still.
After a while —
I brought something up, idly.
“Oh, right.”
“Mm?”
“You said we’d split rent. How much do I owe?”
“Half, huh. Twenty thousand yen, maybe?”
“Eh, why’s it that cheap…? This is central, near the station. Just because it’s old?”
Yuno tilted her eyes upward, thinking it over.
“Hmm. The real estate agent explained something, but it was complicated and I didn’t really get it.”
“Explained what?”
“Something like, ‘the previous tenant, blah blah.’”
“Eh. What’s the ‘blah blah’?”
“Wasn’t really listening, so I don’t know. Well, it was the cheapest one, so I figured why not~”
Yuno smiled, bright, blissfully unconcerned.
Eh… wait a second.
That’s — that’s that kind of property, isn’t it.
A distinctly bad feeling crept up.
A chill ran down my spine.
“No, that’s scary.”
I clung to Yuno on reflex.
“Hm? What’s wrong, all of a sudden?”
Yuno reached out, calm, and began stroking my head, slow. As if carefully untangling a knotted thread, gentle, careful.
“Hey, Yuno… let’s move out of this apartment after all.”
“Ahah, no way. I told you, I love the view from here.”
At my pathetic voice, Yuno narrowed her drooping eyes and laughed, delighted. Caught up in that smile, I found myself laughing too.
This girl really is, somehow, off-kilter. A little unhinged.
Artless, and yet bewitching and sensuous.
Looking strong, and yet, underneath, achingly fragile — impossible to look away from.
Every part of that about Yuno, unbearably dear to me.
I’m completely sunk in this girl’s swamp now, drowning, and there’s no climbing back out.
To anyone watching from outside, I probably look ridiculous right now.
But this is my happiness, in its truest form.
And probably — it will stay that way, from here on.
— The End —