My Childhood Friend Meows Under My Skirt. (GL) - Chapter 2

Thirty minutes had passed standing next to Maki, who was gripping a kitchen knife. We had divided the tasks: Maki was in charge of cutting the ingredients, while I was to finish the dish by simmering it, but I felt like I had failed.

“Ugh! That’s not right! Why are the potatoes sliced into rounds!?”

“Stop being so annoying! As long as it goes in your mouth, it’s fine!”

Finally losing her focus, Maki took off her apron and shoved it at me.

Reluctantly, I switched places and continued the work. Maki was peering over, trying to find faults, but it didn’t take long before she turned her face away in resignation.

“…Right. You’ve always been unnecessarily skilled.”

“Skill doesn’t really matter when it comes to cutting ingredients. Well, I do like crafts and DIY.”

Even though I don’t own any cats, I make a ton of cat-themed goods. By the way, I packed a few in my backpack today. They’re for when I switch with the white cat, so we can play together. If they were found now, they would definitely be simmered along with the curry ingredients, so of course, I hid them away.

I sautéed the cut ingredients and then simmered them. Once it was looking good, I added the honey and soy sauce I had measured beforehand. Maki was still at it, adding more nagging on top of that.

“That doesn’t suit your character at all. It’s all so delicate, it’s irritating. I’m the one who looks better doing it.”

“No, no, you’ve broken so many things since forever, Maki. You’re rough around the edges, your actions are sloppy. How many of my pens and trinkets have you broken?”

“I haven’t broken that many! Wait, do you remember all of them?”

“I’m just sensitive to such things.”

While simmering the curry, we naturally fell into reminiscing about the past, asking each other if we remembered certain things. I had buried a lot of past grievances to be thrown back at me on days like today. Maki had her own stockpile of grievances too, and sometimes she conveniently pretended to be hard of hearing, but we managed to finish the curry and salad without incident.

As I took a bite, Maki suddenly murmured.

“It’s delicious.”

“Because the potatoes aren’t sliced into rounds.”

I felt a kick to my shin under the table. Ignoring my pain, Maki continued eating. In the end, I had done most of the cooking.

At first, we exchanged thoughts on the taste of the curry, but I sensed the conversation was about to fizzle out. Not wanting things to get awkward, I turned on the TV. Maki didn’t get mad at me for doing so. I fiddled with the remote and left it on a moderately lively program.

Pretending to focus on the show, I avoided eye contact while bringing the curry to my mouth. A foreign origami artist was teaching how to fold a beautiful crane in the studio. Several talents and comedians on the stage were attempting to fold cranes. One of the comedians was folding a beautiful kirin and was met with the comment, “How can you fold something like that!”

“Thank you for the meal.”

I was the first to finish my plate. Maki’s movements were bold as she scooped the curry with her spoon, but each bite was clearly small, leaving her with more than half.

As I stood up to clear the dishes, Maki said, “You can go take a bath first. It’s already heated.”

“Really? Thank you. Then I’ll go.”

“Did you bring your pajamas?”

“I brought a tracksuit just in case.”

Nodding, Maki returned to her meal.

After washing the dishes, I took out my change of clothes from my backpack and silently headed to the bathroom. Maki was still watching TV (or pretending to?).

I closed the door to the changing room and let out a big sigh. Fatigue washed over me.

I thought I was having a normal conversation, but it seemed I had unconsciously tensed my shoulders. Although I had been seeing Maki more often lately, today might be the longest we had spent together since we had cut ties.

“Such a maiden,” I heard someone laugh. It was Sakura-chan’s voice from earlier in the evening.

What does it even mean to reconcile? How do you do it? I’ve never even had a proper fight with anyone. The only person I know so deeply and yet feel so far away from is Maki.

I wish someone would just put it all in writing. A reconciliation contract might be too childish a name, but something like a peace agreement would be fine. If we could just sign it together, it would be done, and our relationship would return to how it was. Wouldn’t it be nice if such a system spread quickly?

As I continued to think, I chuckled a little, realizing I was starting to sound like Maki. No, even Maki might not ponder this much. Characters are complicated. If people only had one side to them, I wouldn’t be struggling this much.

I took a shower and washed my body thoroughly. We shared the same body wash, but the shampoo and conditioner were different from mine.

The bathwater was at the perfect temperature, and for some reason, I felt inexplicably frustrated. My stiff body and mind gradually relaxed.

I could faintly see a shadow behind the frosted glass door, and I hurriedly sat up from my lazy float.

“I’ll leave the bath towel here,” I heard Maki’s voice.

“Thanks.”

Feeling embarrassed to simply say thank you, I decided to throw in a joke.

“Hey, want to join me?”

I waited, expecting Maki to retort.

However, after a few seconds of silence, I tilted my head in confusion, and finally, an answer came.

“…Maybe I will. Just like old times.”

“Wait! What? Seriously?”

“I don’t know when a cat might steal my attention, so I need someone to keep watch.”

“No, no! Wait, wait! I want to prepare!”

I heard the sound of fabric rubbing together from the changing room. Could she already be undressing? No, there’s hardly any space. But could it work? If one of us is washing while the other is in the tub, would that be okay?

“Pfft, haha.”

“What?”

The sound of fabric stopped, replaced by laughter. That’s when I finally realized.

“Just kidding, you idiot. There’s no way I’m getting in.”

With a sigh that seemed to say, “What are you panicking for?” Maki casually walked away. After her footsteps faded completely, I submerged my head in the tub, regretting my reaction. Ugh. Today, I feel like I’m the one being teased.

After getting out of the bath, I changed into my pajamas and returned to the living room. Maki, who had been lounging on the sofa, got up and headed to the changing room.

“Oh,” I noticed something on the dining table and instinctively reached for it.

There was a clumsily folded crane. The wings were uneven, and both the tail and head were not aligned, making it look awkward.

As I picked up the crane, I suddenly felt a strange overlap between the Maki of the past and the Maki of now. In that moment, their existence seamlessly merged in my mind. She really hasn’t changed.

Perhaps that’s when my restraint slipped.

I knocked on the bathroom door. Maki noticed and turned down the sound of the shower.

“May I wash your back, Maki?”

“Ha ha, is that payback for earlier? You really hold a grudge. Alright, alright, that’s enough. You can’t just come in anyway, right? Aaaahhh!”

I stripped off my pajamas and barged in without waiting for a response. When was the last time I saw her naked? Probably back when I just entered middle school, when Maki’s mom drove us to a super sento. Or maybe it was during a sleepover. Well, whatever, we can take our time talking and figure it out.

I calmed the struggling Maki, thinking, well, I’ve already undressed, and we both squeezed into the tub. Our shoulders bumped, and our legs brushed against each other. The tips of my hair stuck to Maki’s arm.

“What’s going on? What’s going on!?”

Maki was still trying to hide her body while dealing with the short circuit in her brain. I felt satisfied that I had gotten back at her properly.

“By the way, Maki, there’s something important I want to confirm.”

“…What is it?”

Matching my serious tone, she lowered her voice. A drop from the ceiling fell into the tub, creating ripples, and then I asked.

“Could it be that your chest size hasn’t changed much?”

“I’ll rip off what you’ve grown!”

We both had a good, long tussle and ended up thoroughly overheated.