We Hate Each Other, But It Started With a One-Night Stand - Chapter 2

“…Huh?”

They stared at each other, both completely naked, for several seconds. Shinomiya’s gaze dropped to Hatano’s lower abdomen. Instantly, Shinomiya’s face turned beet red as if boiled, and she glared at Hatano, hiding her lower half with the duvet while letting out a resentful voice.

“Why am I naked?”

“…Well, that…”

Hatano found himself at a loss for words. Honestly, he had no idea why. He was the one who wanted to ask, but to anyone’s eyes, it was clearly Hatano who had done something. Sweating coldly, Hatano searched for words, but he judged it better to state the facts, however suspicious they might sound, rather than try to clumsily cover things up.

“…Honestly, I don’t know. When I woke up, I was naked too.”

“Eww! That’s a major turn-off.”

He was aware his excuse was pathetic, but Shinomiya’s stunned reaction drove that fact home. However, no matter what she said, he truly had no memory of it. He did remember falling asleep quite drunk. But even drunk, would he really lay a hand on Shinomiya? —No. He knew ways to relieve his urges; it wasn’t like he was pent up. That couldn’t be it.

But, straining his memory, he felt like the sound of Shinomiya’s coquettish voice flashed through his mind.

The same voice that spun all those scathing words… he felt like it had been making sweet sounds. As he desperately tried to make his throbbing, hungover head work, Shinomiya hurled abuse at him.

“I’m not shocked or anything, but you’re seriously the worst—acting all neutral and pretending you’re not interested, only to bring your drunk junior home and assault her when the lid’s off. I won’t report you since you seem used to it, but you should realize you’re a criminal.”

“N-no, wait a minute. At this point, I think we have to accept the fact that such an event occurred. But there’s no proof it was done unilaterally by me.”

As Hatano desperately defended himself, Shinomiya looked at him with a gaze full of contempt for his refusal to give up.

However, he prided himself on not being the kind of person to act without the other’s consent, no matter how drunk. Wasn’t there some evidence to prove his innocence? —Thinking this, Hatano pondered, then suddenly had an idea and searched around the bed, finding the clothes she had discarded. It was a complicated garment with various features like strings, zippers, and buttons.

“Your clothes! Look, this annoying outfit that looks hard to take off. There’s no way I could have taken this off you while you were sleeping without you waking up.”

“Hmm…”

Perhaps she thought there was some logic to that. Shinomiya, though looking unconvinced, rested her chin on her finger and pondered. However, seeming unwilling to admit it, she voiced a denial.

“But I was drunk, you know. I might not have noticed something like that.”

“That’s not the only weird thing. If it was just ‘doing it,’ there’d be no need to strip both of us completely naked.”

“…Maybe that’s just your kink?”

“Also, if I had assaulted you in your sleep, I’d have hidden the evidence. It makes no sense for us to be sleeping together completely naked.”

“—Using that logic, you could assault me while we’re both naked! Besides, various parts of my body feel weird; you definitely messed with me, didn’t you?”

She pouted her lips while hiding her chest with the duvet.

“Something might have happened. But it shouldn’t have been forced.”

“That’s what a sex offender would say.”

“Even if, for argument’s sake, I had assaulted you, if it were me, I’d have taken nude photos just in case. To have leverage, you know? The fact that I didn’t means I didn’t assault you.”

Even he knew that was a terrible argument. Shinomiya shot him a look of utter contempt, muttering “The worst…” under her breath. However, she seemed to judge there was some small logic to his point and eased off her pursuit.

“Then why are we undressed?”

Her simple question. The circumstantial evidence undoubtedly pointed to something happening between Hatano and Shinomiya, but it didn’t prove Hatano assaulted her, nor the opposite. In that case, the answer was inevitable.

“Mu… mutual consent, maybe?”

At Hatano’s strained words, Shinomiya’s cheek twitched.

“…Are you an idiot?”

As she said, he was an idiot. There was no way he would want to have sex with Shinomiya, someone he could publicly declare he hated more than anyone in the world, and judging from her words last night, the opposite was also impossible. Hatano slowly shook his head, exasperated with himself, and apologized.

“Sorry.”

Shinomiya let out a deeply exasperated sigh and gave him a sidelong glance.

“…You’re not secretly filming us or something, are you? Show me your phone.”

“No, that’s—”

For a moment, he thought to refuse. Not because he had anything to feel guilty about, but because he was terrified of the ‘what if.’ Since he had no memory from when he was drunk, he couldn’t definitively say nothing happened. But refusing here would only make her anxious too. He disliked her, but that wasn’t a reason to hurt her unilaterally. Hatano nodded, saying, “You show me yours too,” and took out his own smartphone.

“From now on, all phone operations must be visible to the other person.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll show mine first.”

They both placed their smartphones on the bed and began operating them. Opening a lock screen with a cute anime character, Shinomiya opened and showed the folder where her photos and videos were saved. Among many unexpected photo icons—stray cats, beautiful scenery—there were at least no videos related to that. Of course, it was possible she was hiding something, but honestly, Hatano didn’t suspect her. “Confirmed. My turn next,” he said, opening his default lock screen with trembling fingers.

Of course, there shouldn’t be anything. But for Hatano, who truly had no memory, this was a black box. Or perhaps Pandora’s box. If by some chance he had assaulted her and, on top of that, recorded it on video, he should meekly turn himself in.

Just before touching the album icon he rarely used, he stopped his finger and took a few breaths. He thought about what kind of apology he should offer, anticipating the worst-case scenario. However, as if to say Hatano’s tension was irrelevant, an impatient Shinomiya grabbed his finger and tapped it for him. “Just press it already.”

The list of images opened. A cluster of inorganic, utilitarian screenshots.

Among them, like it was hiding, was one video with a ‘▶’ icon. A dimly lit room and beautiful skin. Though small and the features unclear, there was a woman’s nude body.

“…Ah, yes. Evidence.”

And he could confirm that the person and the recorder were having sex.

The blood drained from his face, and words failed him. A feeling as if all the trust he had built in himself was crumbling. Despair that he could be such a terrible human being. While Hatano sweated coldly like a waterfall, Shinomiya’s gaze held unconcealed contempt.

There was no room for excuses anymore. Resolving himself to turn himself in, he first tried to offer her a sincere, heartfelt apology, but she let out another exasperated sigh and opened the video.

“So, what did you do?”

She certainly had a right to know. Not objecting to Shinomiya handling his smartphone as if it were her own, he watched as she played the video. In silence, the two of them watched as the older-model smartphone displayed the video full-screen after a slight delay.

—Instantly, Shinomiya’s voice calling for Hatano echoed out.

‘Senpai, senpa, there…! More, plea—’

At the moment her voice, sweet and high-pitched with pleasure, tried to plead for something, Shinomiya’s hand stopped the video.

“…”

Drip, drip—Shinomiya now broke out in a cold sweat, just like Hatano had moments before. The clear sound of her consciously calling Hatano’s name. Having confirmed both proof of his false accusation and, simultaneously, undeniable video evidence of having sex with her, Hatano fell silent with an indescribable expression.

Involuntarily, they made eye contact, then immediately averted their gazes.

What madness had possessed him hours ago to do that with her? What madness had possessed him to record it as a video? Alcohol was a terrifying thing; surely, she was thinking the same.

Hatano quietly deleted the video and stated without looking at her face.

“Nothing happened. Okay?”

“Let’s do that. For both our sakes.”

She nodded with a bitter expression, as if to say she couldn’t comprehend her own actions.

In the end, why he had ended up doing that with her remained a mystery.