I woke the next morning and waited for Akari to get up before heading home.
Unlike Yamamoto, Akari clearly wasn’t a morning person. Even though we’d been practically inseparable since our second year of high school, I’d only just learned that about her today.
On the way back, I stopped at a convenience store that happened to be along my route.
I wondered if he’d already eaten breakfast.
I’d been gone for nearly half a day. He’d said he’d just figure something out, but what if he’d gotten so caught up in cleaning that he forgot to eat and collapsed from hunger? No, no, no.
The scary thing was that with him, I couldn't entirely rule it out.
Onigiri.
Sandwiches.
Soup and a bento.
I dropped nearly two thousand yen and headed home with a bulging plastic bag.
"I'm home."
I set the bag in the kitchen and checked the living room.
...Was it for ventilation?
the windows were wide open. The curtains fluttered in the slightly chilly autumn breeze blowing inside.
"Hm? Oh. Welcome back."
Yamamoto was cleaning the windows.
Or rather, he wasn't just wiping the glass; he was using an array of tools to dig grime out of the window tracks.
"You’re back early. I thought you’d take it easy and stay there all day today, too."
"...What? Was I in the way?"
"I didn't say anything of the sort, did I?"
I knew that.
I knew that without him having to say it.
Still, he could afford to be a bit more considerate with his words. Like saying "I was waiting for you," or "I was about to cry because you weren't here."
I felt a wry smile tug at my lips as I realized I was fishing for words he’d never say in a million years.
"How did it go? Did you get the Representative Friend's Speech together?"
"...Not at all."
Just before going to bed yesterday, I had been feeling depressed from exhaustion and the weight of responsibility... but talking to him, my heart felt strangely at ease.
"Man, this is really hard."
I wondered why.
Why did I feel so calm?
...Ah, I see.
"Well, want to think about it together?"
As long as I relied on Yamamoto, everything would be fine. Without realizing it, I’d come to place absolute trust in the man I lived with.
It couldn't be helped.
There was just no helping it...
It had only been about two months since I came here. In just that short time, just how much had he done for me?
He had given me so many things.
He saved me from domestic violence.
He created the opportunity for me to reunite with the parents who had disowned me.
He set up a place for me to reunite with my best friend.
And I had fallen into an irreplaceable love.
So, it was only natural that I would rely on him.
That's why, it was all...
It was all Yamamoto’s fault.
"Yeah. Please."
I smiled.
Surely, without a doubt, if I relied on Yamamoto, everything would be okay. He would help me again. He would resolve my troubles in an instant.
"So, why don't you try consulting Yamamoto-kun?"
Suddenly, I remembered Akari's words from last night. The advice that Akari, tormented by her own sense of helplessness, had given me... was to rely on Yamamoto.
I saw my current self reflected in how Akari had been back then.
And then, I realized.
...I see.
Akari. You were saved by him once, too, weren't you?
That was why Akari could give me that advice—because she was certain that if it was Yamamoto, he would figure something out.
"...You really are a sinful man."
"Hm?"
"It's nothing."
I decided to wait and get lunch ready while Yamamoto finished his cleaning. My eyes fell on the mountain of food sitting on the kitchen counter.
"Ah... Hey, Yamamoto?"
"What?"
"For lunch, are you okay with a Karaage Bento, a Tuna Mayo Onigiri, an Egg Sandwich, and Pork Soup?"
"Isn't that... kind of a lot?"
Yamamoto looked utterly perplexed.