Episode 57: A Night Just for the Two of Us
After that, we stayed just as we were for a while.
Holding hands, as if confirming each other’s warmth, we passed the time without exchanging a word.
That quiet stretched on, until Honoka’s stomach let out a small growl.
At the sound, I couldn’t help a small laugh.
“…Hungry?”
“…Yeah, a little.”
Honoka said it, cheeks colouring with embarrassment, but she made no move to pull away.
When I started to get up, she caught the hem of my shirt and gave a small shake of her head.
“…Let’s make it together?”
The words settled warm in my chest. Even for the briefest moment, she didn’t want to be apart from me — that feeling bled through clearly.
I smiled gently and took her hand.
“Yeah, let’s make it together. Something you like, today.”
I took the ingredients from the fridge and got things moving efficiently.
The two of us stood side by side in the kitchen, put together something simple, and sat down to eat it together.
Once the dishes were cleared and the kitchen light switched off, Honoka let a quiet murmur fall.
“…Let’s take a bath. You’ll come in with me, right?”
“Of course.”
I answered as if it were only natural, and Honoka took my hand and led the way to the bathroom.
Even while undressing in the steam-filled changing room, Honoka kept reaching out to touch my skin, again and again. Each time her fingertips brushed me, they carried both loneliness and something fierce, soaking into the touch.
Once we’d sunk into the bath up to our shoulders, Honoka rested her head on my shoulder and came into my arms.
“…Your smell, Yuna… it settles me…”
She said it in a small voice, and rested her hand against my chest.
I said nothing, and simply held that hand in mine.
A quiet stretch of time passed.
“…I want to stay like this forever. Having your warmth here properly, beside me… it puts me at ease.”
Her voice wavered, carrying something aching in it.
I washed her hair for her, washed her back, and let her wash me in turn.
Like that, tending carefully to each other with our own hands, we touched one another almost like something offered in prayer.
By the time we climbed out of the bath, our fingertips were wrinkled from the water, and even so, parting still felt reluctant. Even wrapped in bath towels, Honoka wouldn’t leave my side.
Back in the bedroom, she took my hand gently and drew me down to sit beside her.
“…Hey, Yuna. Hold me tight…?”
Her voice carried something aching in it, and without a word, I wrapped her in my arms.
Each time our warmth met, something soft deep in my chest grew warm in turn.
Honoka buried her face in my chest and let out a small breath.
“…What I said before, about wanting to stay like this forever — I meant it. I… I’m no good, unless I’m beside you, Yuna.”
Her voice was trembling. I pressed a soft kiss to her hair and answered.
“Me too. My heart isn’t full unless it’s you, Honoka.”
Honoka lifted her face and looked at me with eyes faintly wet.
That gaze was more direct, more dear to me, than anything else — and I gently brought our lips together.
Deep, and gentle, like something meant to confirm each other.
With every touch, feeling carried through, stronger than words, as if our hearts were folding into one another.
Tonight surely wasn’t just any night.
A night meant to confirm our love for each other, our warmth —
a night that belonged only to the two of us.