I was zoning out in front of the TV with about an hour to go before bed.
"Phew."
The sigh came from Hayashi.
She had been sitting on the floor at the desk, legs tucked to the side as she buried herself in her studies, but it looked like she was finally calling it a day.
"Good work. Want something to drink?"
"Mm... no, I’m okay."
"I see."
Watching her clear off the desk, I stood up to lay out my futon, which I’d kept pushed into the corner of the room.
"Sorry for hogging the room so late," Hayashi said, looking a bit guilty.
"Don't worry about it. I was happy to get some cleaning done while you were studying."
"Thanks."
Hayashi gave me a small smile.
I finished spreading out the futon and laid the blanket over it.
I’d met her back during summer vacation. It had been three months since then, and the seasons were finally starting to turn.
When I first took her into this room, there was a certain awkwardness to having her around—a lingering sense of tension, if I recall correctly. But now, far from being tense, I found myself viewing this lifestyle as my normal routine.
Familiarity really is a terrifying thing.
"Hey, Yamamoto?"
"Yeah?"
"On days you don't have work, all you do is clean the moment you get home... don't you have anything else to do?"
"Could you maybe not come at me with a knife out of nowhere?"
My relationship with this girl, who had utterly loathed me back in high school, had turned quite positive since she’d moved in. Because of that, I’d come to understand her reasonably well... but she still made these meddlesome remarks from time to time.
She really was a busybody.
What made it truly malicious was that she knew exactly why I came home so early on my days off, yet she chose to poke at me anyway. It was the height of spite.
"It can't be helped. I don't have any friends."
"Then just make some."
"You say that like it's easy."
"It is easy."
"This conversation is never going to go anywhere."
Exasperated, I let out a heavy sigh.
Hayashi tended to judge everything by her own standards. If someone like her ever ended up in management, her subordinates would spend all their time complaining about how out of touch their boss was.
"...What about those guys from the other day?"
"The other day?"
"...The guys you went to that mixer with," Hayashi asked, her voice dripping with undisguised disgust.
"I haven't talked to them at all since then."
It couldn't be helped. After all, when I got home from that mixer, I’d found my cleaning tools neatly packed away and ready to be shipped off. She had told me to go talk to guys, I’d done exactly that, and I was rewarded with that for my trouble. Since I didn't even know where the landmine was, keeping my distance was the only logical choice.
Well, it wasn't like they were exactly clamoring to hang out with me again either.
"...That's no good," Hayashi muttered.
"Not hanging out with them?"
"No." Hayashi pouted. "The fact that you aren't making friends."
I stayed silent. Even if she said that, it wasn't like I could just flip a switch.
"I’ve got it!"
"You’re not going to threaten to sell my cleaning tools again, are you?"
"N-no! Besides, I didn't actually sell them!"
Maybe not, but... well, I decided to let it go.
Hayashi cleared her throat with an obviously forced cough. "Yamamoto, go talk to some other students again tomorrow."
"Ugh, really?"
"Don't give me that look. If you manage to talk to someone, then... well, I'll give you a reward."
"A reward?"
Did that mean what I thought it meant?
"Yeah. I’ll do my part to help you reach your goals, just like you help me." Hayashi puffed out her chest with a proud hmph.
"Making friends isn't exactly a goal of mine, though," I said, pointedly looking away from her chest.
"Shut up!"
"Wow, so we’re just steamrolling over my opinion again..."
"Just do it! If I say you're doing it, you're doing it!"
She really was something... once she set her mind to something, there was no talking her out of it.
Well, whatever. It was a bit annoying to play along with her scheme, but it wasn't as if the idea of a reward didn't appeal to me.
"Fine. I’ll give it a shot."
Hayashi’s face brightened instantly. "Then, as for the reward..."
"Actually, there’s some cleaning tools I’ve been wanting." I pulled out my phone, opened my online shopping app, and showed her a page from my wishlist.
Hayashi stared at the screen with a flat, unimpressed expression. "...I just have to buy this?"
"Yeah."
"Fine. If you talk to someone at school, I’ll buy it. Right up to the limit."
"Wait, I don't need that many."
What kind of specific, targeted harassment was this? No, thinking about it, this was actually quite sophisticated. If she bought enough to hit her budget limit, I’d be forced into a choice between two evils: either let my room be completely overrun by equipment, or throw it away.
If I were forced to part with my cleaning tools—things that were third or fourth on the list of things I valued more than my own life—I’d be crushed by the guilt. On the other hand, keeping them all wouldn't be physically possible.
And to top it off, it would drain her own savings.
Damn it. Why was Hayashi being so cruelly demonic...?!
"...I'm going to sleep."
"No, wait, Hayashi. Hang on! This is no time to be sleeping. Think about what you just said! Ruminate on it! There is no way you should be able to nap after that!"
"I'm fine."
"Hayashi! Are you even listening?!"
"...Snore..."
"...She really can fall asleep in an instant, can't she?"
I reached over and turned off the light.
Personally, I didn't find this time to be peaceful at all.