Our Life That Begins with a Convenient Relationship - Chapter 5

The moment I woke up in the morning, the first thing that jumped into my view was an unfamiliar ceiling.

“…Where am I?”

For a second, I didn’t know where I was, and my mind went blank. But in the next moment, fragments of last night’s memories came rushing back.

—I carried the drunk girl on my back, walked to the station, the trains were stopped. I looked for a hotel…

And the place we ended up was, of all things, a love hotel.

Ah… right. The moment I remembered, the color drained from my face.

But more than that, what was controlling me right now was—

“…Ouch…”

Muscle pain.

A dull ache was spreading slowly from my neck to my back. My waist, thighs, and even my calves felt heavy and creaky. It was entirely because of yesterday.

“Sigh… I really don’t want to get old!”

The words slipped out.

When I was in my twenties, I could handle a bit of recklessness and be perfectly fine the next day. A little muscle pain or fatigue was just enough to make me think, “Wow, I worked hard.”

But now that I’m in my mid-thirties, it’s no good. When I push myself, the bill always comes due the next day. It’s a triple threat of pain, heaviness, and exhaustion.

I’m an izakaya worker whose job is basically walking, and I still ended up like this. If I had an office job and sat all day, I might have ended up in an ambulance instead of just struggling to get up.

…Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration.

But at the very least, I absolutely never want to explain to a paramedic, “I can’t move because of muscle pain in a love hotel.” If that ended up in a tiny corner of the newspaper, my life would be over.

Groaning under the covers, I tried rubbing the sore spots with both hands for now. I heard somewhere that kneading too hard is bad for you, so I tried to use a bit of self-care knowledge.

As I rubbed myself bit by bit and waited for the pain to calm down while catching my breath—

“…Zzz… zzz…”

I heard someone breathing.

That’s right, she was right next to me. My head was so full of other things that I had forgotten until just now.

Softly turning my head, I saw her sleeping with half her face buried in the sheets.

“She looks so peaceful sleeping there without a care in the world…”

She looked like a completely different person from the drunk girl venting at the counter yesterday. Her hair was about shoulder-length; it had been neat last night, but now it was sticking up in places from bedhead.

Her thin lips were slightly parted, and her faint breathing kept a steady rhythm. Her eyelashes were long, and her skin was surprisingly beautiful. Her makeup didn’t even look messy.

“Is she not wearing any makeup right now?”

I had assumed she was the type of office worker who always went to work with perfect makeup, but maybe she just has a naturally pretty face.

“I mean looking at her again, she’s actually quite cute.”

The thought slipped out as a quiet mumble.

Then, last night flashed through my mind.

If she had gotten drunk at a different shop instead of ours, she might have been harassed by some drunk guy, or worse… she could have been in real danger.

Just thinking about it gave me the chills.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing she passed out at our place… maybe?”

In exchange, I was stuck with muscle pain and a stay at a love hotel as a “bonus.”

While thinking about that, I leaned over, thinking I should probably wake her up soon. Just as I reached out my hand to lightly shake her shoulder through the blanket—

Her eyelids slowly lifted. Her eyes, not yet in focus, stared blankly at me.

“…”

One second, two seconds—after a quiet moment, her eyes darted left and right.

In the next instant, she sprang up like she was on a spring. She hugged a pillow with both arms and scurried backward.

“S-Sakurai-san…?! This place is… wait… no way…”

Her face turned bright red in an instant.

…Yeah, she’s completely misunderstanding this.

And of all things, the pillow she was hugging was a “YES/NO” pillow. I thought it was the one I had tossed into the corner of the room yesterday but apparently, there were two. Well, it is a love hotel, so it’s not surprising.

But please, I wish she wouldn’t hug that pillow so desperately. It just makes things even more misunderstood.

“Okay, okay, just stay calm and listen while I explain. All right?”

I waved my hands to stop her imagination from running wild. Then, I explained everything that happened from last night to this morning, one by one.

How she got drunk. How I looked for a hotel because of the train accident and other things, but I made a mistake and we had to stay at a love hotel. How I swear I didn’t do anything… I left out the unnecessary details—like me throwing the pillow or being shocked by the glass bathroom.

While I talked, she nodded along.

I thought she looked relieved, but only for a moment. For just a split second, her expression seemed to cloud over with disappointment.

“…”

“…?”

Did I see that right? I rubbed my eyes without thinking. But when I blinked and looked again, she just had a serious face. Maybe I imagined it, or maybe she was just groggy from waking up.

“I am terribly sorry for the trouble I have caused you.”

She straightened her back and offered a polite, professional apology, using formal words and manners like a proper office worker.

—However, seeing her do a formal “dogeza” bow on top of a bed almost made me burst out laughing. Sitting on her heels and bowing her head to the mattress in a love hotel. The sheets were all wrinkled, making it a very surreal sight.

(No… she’s apologizing seriously, so I shouldn’t laugh.)

I desperately covered my mouth to hold it in.

When she looked up, the corners of her mouth were twitching slightly.

It was an expression that could have been a smile or confusion—I couldn’t tell which. But it was strangely cute, and I found myself looking away.

(…Seriously, she’s so expressive.)

Maybe she’s too serious, or maybe the situation is just too ridiculous.

Either way, spending a morning facing each other while holding back laughter on a bed in a love hotel felt a bit unreal and strangely peaceful and yet, it made my chest feel a little ticklish.