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

Maki said she was going to sleep, so I turned off the TV and headed to the adjacent bedroom. When I opened the sliding door, I found a simple room with a bed, a study desk and chair, and a closet on the shelf. An improvised futon was laid out on the floor. Although the heights were different, the bed was quite close.

Maki tilted her head, noticing I was hesitating to enter the bedroom.

“I might just sleep on the sofa. It looks comfortable over there too.”

“If you do that, you won’t be able to stop the cat from stealing your attention right away.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“What, you don’t like the futon?”

“No, that’s not it…”

Sighing, I decided to move to the futon. Now that I thought about it, Maki had unhesitatingly taken over my bed the last time she visited. This kind of behavior felt a bit careless or messy. I was the only one who felt awkward about it, and it made me feel foolish. I had been so excited during bath time, but now my enthusiasm had completely cooled. I couldn’t help but wonder which of us had the more fickle mood.

Maki began stretching on the bed. She had apparently experienced muscle soreness after being distracted by the cat before, so she was probably loosening up her body in preparation this time.

“How’s it looking so far?”

“No signs yet, but when I’m about to be distracted, I don’t even feel the fidgeting coming.”

“Is that so?”

The situation remained unpredictable, just as it had been before. It could change at this very moment, or the distraction might not happen even tomorrow.

Just then, a thought crossed my mind.

“Wait, does that mean I have to stay awake and keep watch while you sleep?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not a monster. I’ll let you off for about an hour. I even went out of my way to prepare the futon for that.”

“Torture.”

“If I wake up and find you sleeping, I’ll throw you and the futon outside.”

With a smile, she declared this unilaterally, and then she quickly settled into bed, preparing to sleep. Before I could protest, the lights in the room were mercilessly turned off, and I felt utterly alone.

I considered watching TV in the living room, but I felt like I would get scolded for not being nearby. Reluctantly, I crawled into the futon and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling of the unknown room.

I had stayed over at Maki’s house several times, but this was my first time sleeping in her apartment as a single occupant. In fact, it dawned on me that today was the first time I had entered her room. I had been so focused on successfully making curry that I hadn’t noticed.

“Hey, Maki.”

“…What?”

“The pillow height doesn’t feel right.”

“You’re trying to sleep, aren’t you?!”

I jumped up, startled by her reprimand. I made an excuse that I was only going to sleep for an hour and reluctantly accepted a sheet to adjust the pillow height. After folding it three times and placing it on the pillow, it was just the right height. I was getting comfortable.

“Hey, Maki.”

“What now?”

“I also want a body pillow to hug between my legs.”

“You’re definitely trying to sleep!”

That request was denied. I had thought about sleeping for not just one hour but ten, but that was not to be.

“Just let me sleep already,” Maki said, turning over and facing away from me. Finally, the conversation ceased, and complete silence fell.

I glanced toward the window and saw the moon faintly floating behind the lace curtains. Maki preferred not to completely close the curtains when sleeping; she had always said she didn’t want the room to be pitch dark whenever I stayed over.

“Hey, Maki.”

There was no response.

I knew she wouldn’t answer, but I asked anyway.

“Do you remember the last time I stayed over?”

In the lingering silence, I felt a sense of satisfaction.

Just as I was about to return to observing the moon, her voice surprised me.

“I stayed over at my house. We went to a Western restaurant with my parents and had dinner that day. Afterward, we went to a super sento.”

“…You remember that?”

“It was two months before we stopped talking.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

We had been in the same class, reunited, and perhaps that was the first time we touched on that topic. But surely, that word had been dancing in her heart all along. Stopping communication. She had told me not to say a word and not to approach her.

“I broke my promise, and you got mad, and that’s why we stopped talking. I didn’t show up at the meeting place, Miyage Mountain Central Park, because I pretended to be sick.”

“…That’s a bit different.”

“Huh?”

I turned my face toward Maki so I could hear her better. She still had her back to me. After a few seconds, she responded again.

“It wasn’t just because you didn’t come to the park that we stopped talking. It was because a lot of annoying things piled up that led to that.”

“What do you mean by piled up?”

“Shut up. I’m done with this conversation.”

“Wait, what do you mean? Is there another reason?”

I wanted to hear a bit more. Just as I was about to continue, Maki suddenly sat up. I instinctively sat up from the futon as well.

In the next moment, Maki leaped from the bed straight at me. She grabbed my wrists and pushed me down onto the futon as if to pin me. It wasn’t because I had been pestering her with questions that she was angry and did this.

The strength with which she held my wrists felt familiar, and when I met her gaze, there she was.

“Meow.”

The white cat, Maki’s.

I was confident that I could love all cats without exception, and I wouldn’t dislike them for something like this, but at that moment, the timing was a bit off. The conversation I was so close to having with Maki was likely to be lost in this distraction.

“Nyaa.”

“Ahaha, that tickles!”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter as the cat licked my neck. It seemed I would soon see Maki blushing and shouting again.

For now, this hypothesis has been proven.