Chapter 18

TL: Chaos

ED: Mateo

When we returned home from the aquarium, it was already six o’clock in the afternoon. My mom was at home after coming home from work.

Mana handed a gift bag to Mom.

“Mom, this is a gift from Erika and me.”

“Ara~! Thank you, Mana and Erika-chan.”

What came out of the bag was a cookie tin decorated with illustrations of fish. Mom loves cute things, so she seemed very happy.

“Well, you both have cute stuffed penguins, don’t you?”

Mom looked fondly at the stuffed penguins that Mana and Erika-chan were holding. Then Erika-chan said elatedly.

“Mana’s one is an Adelie penguin, and mine is an Emperor penguin! ‘Emperor’ means emperor.” [TLN: penguin types in english, the explanation for it is in Japanese.]

“Ara ara! Erika-chan, you’re like an expert on penguins!”

Erika-chan was so taken in by Mom’s praise that she even started to show her the picture book she had bought today.

“I’m still learning! From now on, after I learn everything about penguins, I’ll teach Mana’s Mom too!”

“Mmhmm. I’ll look forward to it.”

Erika was happy to see Mom so happy.

Seeing her like this makes me think that I’m no match for my mom.

Mom is always amazing.

When Mana became a yankee, and when Mana brought all her yankee friends over, she accepted it very naturally. She didn’t look reluctant at all.

When I told her that Erika-chan would be staying at our house during the summer vacation, she easily accepted, saying, “It will be fun and lively.” She listened to Erika-chan’s story as if she was listening to her own child.

——That’s why I respect her, because she’s like that. My dad is also broad-minded. I’m glad that both of my parents are so kind…

Mana and Erika-chan were busy telling Mom about their day. I left them there and went to my room first.

I collapsed onto my bed.

I’m pretty tired from all the things that happened today.

If it were a game, going to the aquarium while controlling four yankee girls would be hard mode. Runa-chan and Arisa-chan are especially annoying because they tease me whenever they can and drain my mental energy. But if I let them loose, they’d make a big clamour in public and I’d be in trouble.

But it wasn’t all hard work today. There was a big accomplishment that made up for all of that.

I recalled Erika-chan’s happy face when I confessed to her. That alone raised my heart rate unnecessarily.

I haven’t had a girlfriend for 20 years, but now I have one. And what’s more, she’s so beautiful and cute that she’s wasted on me…

However, I can’t just be in high spirits about it forever. Today was not the goal. It was the start.

I confessed to Erika-chan after deciding to protect her. For Erika-chan, I have to graduate from university, get my teaching license, get a good job, and earn money…

What should I do to prevent Erika from having a hard time in the future? When I started to think about such slightly difficult things, I suddenly became sleepy.

——…But, it’s fine for today. After all, today is a special day because I started going out with Erika-chan…

The more I relaxed, the more sleepy I was.

I started to feel light-headed, and eventually, I couldn’t think of anything.

It seems that the yankee girls weren’t the only ones who were in high spirits.

I forgot to eat my dinner and fell asleep.

When I suddenly woke up, it was twelve o’clock at night.

“Oh no… I fell asleep without taking a bath…”

I can’t believe that I, of all people, forgot to take a shower and fell asleep. I screwed up.

I felt like taking a shower right now, but I was really hungry. So I grabbed a change of clothes and headed for the living room first.

The hallway was already dark. There was no light leaking from any of the rooms. Mana and Erika-chan must have been tired and gone to bed early.

I walked to the living room, trying not to make a sound with my footsteps, and found a wrapped side dish for me on the table.

“I’m thankful…”

I put my hands together over my cold hamburger steak and lukewarm potato salad.

“Thank you for the meal.”

It was late at night, so I decided against eating too much. I just ate a hamburger steak and potato salad and drank a cup of tea. With that, I felt my empty stomach was satisfied.

“Let’s take a shower…”

Careful not to make too much noise, I walked to the bathroom, turned on the light, opened the door gently, and closed it softly.

I had taken a bath when everyone was asleep many times before. No one in my family has complained about the noise of me taking a bath in the middle of the night. However, I don’t want to disturb anyone’s sleep by making a strange loud noise. So I acted cautiously.

I took off my clothes, went into the bathroom, and turned on the shower. The water was nice and warm, and I started washing off my sweat.

Since I was fast asleep just recently, I wonder If I’m going to be able to go back to sleep… While I was worrying about these weird things—

Suddenly, the bathroom door made a clattering sound——and opened.

“Eh?”

Startled by the sound, I looked at the door. Then, a beautiful blonde haired girl peeked in bashfully.

“Should I wash your back for you?”

“Huh!?”

Erika-chan had a bath towel wrapped around her, but she didn’t seem to be wearing anything underneath it. The loosely wrapped bath towel looked as if it was about to come undone at any moment, which made me nervous. Because of the way she put her hands on her chest, the ampleness of her chest is emphasized, and it’s dazzling…

“Hey hey hey heyyyy!”

“Ah! Hold on!”

I hurriedly pushed Erika out and closed the bathroom door. Then I held the door so that it wouldn’t open.

On the other side of the door, Erika-chan was protesting, banging on the door.

“Why are you keeping me out!?”

“I’ll ask you the opposite, why are you trying to come in!?”

“Ha? I’m your girlfriend so I should be allowed to take a bath together with you.”

“E-even if you’re my girlfriend…”

——Eh? Do people take their baths together with their lovers?

I have zero experience in love, and I don’t know the right answer. I want to look it up on the Internet, but I don’t have my phone at hand.

Anyway, I should calm down for once.

I took a deep breath to calm down.

The worst development that could happen right now… would be someone noticing the noise in the bathroom, and witnessing the current situation.

In other words, don’t make a fuss. I needed to talk to Erika-chan calmly before anyone noticed the situation.

I whispered to Erika-chan on the other side of the door.

“Erika-chan, have you taken a bath yet?”

“Nn? I did though? I saw Tsukasa going in, so I thought about going in together.”

“No no… I’m going to take a bath by myself so… can you please restrain yourself?”

“Why do you want to take a bath by yourself so badly? Wouldn’t it be better for us to take a bath together?”

“Better?”

“You can look at my body as much as you want, you know?”

“That… That may be true but…”

“I’m your girlfriend, so there’s nothing wrong with looking at my body, okay? Don’t you want to see it?”

Certainly, it is legal to look at the nakedness of the person you are dating as long as they say it is okay to show it to you. And if you ask me if I want to see it or not, that is, of course…

——No, this is bad!

If I end up seeing it, it might be inexcusable. Besides right now… a certain part of me is already hot.

“Erika-chan, you know…”

“O-owwww”

Just as I was about to present my honest opinion to Erika-chan, she suddenly made a pained sound behind the door.

“Eh? W-what happened? Are you okay?”

“Ouch… Tsukasa, help…”

“Eh? Wait are you okay—”

Thinking it was an emergency, I went to open the bathroom door.

As soon as there was a small gap in the door, a hand appeared from the other side of the door, grabbed it and opened it completely.

“Fufufu! You fell for it! There’s nothing to hide between lovers, right? In other words, you shouldn’t hide your body either!”

Erika-chan stood in the doorway of the bath.

I hurriedly used a bucket to hide my thing.

“Why are you hiding it?”

“I’m embarrassed! Please don’t make me take a bath with you!”

“Eh~? Why are you more shy than me?”

“No, I think Erika-chan is bolder than most normal people, so please don’t make yourself the norm!”

“Haa? So for our entire lives, we won’t take a bath together? Even if we get married? Even if we become husband and wife?”

Erika-chan, wearing only a bath towel, closed in on me.

“No, I don’t know if it’s for the rest of our lives or not, but not for a while!”

“For a while? How long do you mean by that!?”

When Erika-chan said that with great vigour, her bath towel came off her chest.

The bath towel, while gently floating in the air, was quietly pulled to the floor by gravity. The youthful body wrapped in the towel was exposed, and the beautiful, tender-looking twin mounds swayed.

I guess she didn’t expect the bath towel to come off here. Erika-chan froze in her state of stark nakedness.

Of course, I froze as well.

A few seconds passed.

Suddenly, Erika-chan picked up the bath towel that had fallen on the bathroom floor, ran to the changing room, and closed the door with a bang.

There was a loud bang, and I was startled.

“Um, Erika-chan?”

I gingerly called out to Erika-chan, who had disappeared to the other side of the door.

“So Erika-chan, you’re embarrassed to take a bath together with me after all, aren’t you..?”

“J-just now, what happened was a little unexpected, and I wasn’t mentally prepared for it, that’s why!”

“No, isn’t that why you’re embarrassed…?”

“Hold on, I’ll prepare myself mentally now, so wait.”

“No no, you don’t have to do that! Isn’t it fine now? Please just return quietly for today.”

“Muuu… Fine.” [TLN: pouting noises]

I heard a little cute growl and then a sulky voice came in reply.

On the other side of the door, I could hear Erika-chan getting dressed. I leaned my back against the door and breathed a sigh of relief.

I can’t afford to cross the line with Erika-chan yet.

When we started dating, I told Erika-chan that I wanted to have a wholesome relationship with her until she graduated from high school. I have no intention of reversing this.

Erika-chan acknowledged that too but… what was she thinking when she barged into the bathroom?

——Don’t tell me, did Erika-chan think that was still in the scope of a wholesome relationship?

No no, that’s just an overestimation of my reasoning.

“It’s a good thing I’m not the only one. Good night.”

“…Then, I’ll be off. Good night.”

We exchanged our voices through the door.

Shortly thereafter, I felt the door to the bathroom open and felt the vibration of the door closing.

——Was she okay with it? I hope I didn’t make her feel bad…

I don’t know what expression Erika-chan had when she left. My chest tightened at the thought of what I would do if she had come to hate me.

“I can’t help it… This is one thing I absolutely cannot compromise on, and I need Erika-chan to understand this too.”

There are many variations in the way men and women communicate their love for each other. If they tell each other that they are irreplaceable, the relationship can continue without having to do anything with each other naked.

I switched the shower to cold water from hot water.

I continued to take cold showers until my head and body were cold. Until I no longer remembered what had just happened.

Once my mind was empty, I went out to the changing room.

…Then, I stepped on something left on the mat.

I looked closer and saw that they were pink women’s shorts.

“Ha??”

It wasn’t there before I went into the bathroom earlier. In other words, this belongs to Erika-chan. She must have changed her clothes and returned to her room, so why is it here? Was she in a hurry and forgot it? That means, don’t tell me that she doesn’t have them on right now…

“No, it’s a trap. She’s definitely trying to incite me into thinking that…”

I pretended not to notice and left it on the mat.

Why is it that she has to study because she doesn’t have that much common sense, but somehow she can show quick-wittedness like this? She has the appearance of an angel, but on the inside she’s a yankee. And sometimes, she can be a little devil.

Sure enough, after I got into bed again, I ended up just thinking about Erika-chan.

I had just taken a cold shower to rid myself of my worldly desires, but thanks to the shorts, they came back.

One after another, the memories were brought up in tandem.

When I closed my eyes, Erika-chan’s naked body floated behind my eyelids.

Just by looking at it for a few seconds, it was completely recorded in my brain.

“Ah, come on…”

A pathetic voice escaped from my mouth.

What is the purpose of this ordeal? I wanted to ask anyone that would listen to me.

Before I knew it, I seemed to have fallen asleep and it was morning. The light coming through the curtains was dazzling, and I turned over in my sleep… And then I felt something soft in my hands.

“Eh? What is this…?”

It was soft and warm.

I was still half asleep, so I caressed and rubbed the mysterious object.

Then the mysterious object squeaked in a cute voice, “Hyaa!”

“Eh?”

I immediately woke up.

Before my eyes, there was a blushing Erika-chan.

“Geez… Don’t touch me in strange places. It’s ticklish, you know?”

Her cheeks were a little puffy. But she didn’t sound angry at all.

“…Why are you here?”

I asked timidly.

“I’m your girlfriend, so it’s fine to sleep with you, right?”

“No no no! Even if you’re my girlfriend, no!”

“Eh~!? Why not!?”

“I’ve decided to go out with you, Erika-chan, but I told you it would be a wholesome relationship! Any behavior that could lead to an unhealthy relationship is prohibited!”

“I don’t know what’s wholesome and what’s not! I like you, so why is it unhealthy for us to be together! Isn’t it more unhealthy for us to not be together!?”

“I understand what Erika-chan is saying but, what I say is no good, is no good!”

“Then isn’t our going out completely pointless!”

“I’ll do my best to not make you feel lonely… So please, forgive me for this…”

When I begged her, Erika-chan looked at me with a frustrated look on her face.

“I’m already lonely.”

She spat that out, and left the room.

I was left in the room, holding my head and sighing.

“I have to do something about this…”

I don’t want to think that I made a mistake in confessing my feelings. I don’t want to think that I was too quick to go out with her. I have to properly accept Erika-chan’s feelings and make her feel comfortable.

“Even I… really want to hug you, Erika-chan…”

The place where Erika-chan was sleeping just a while ago was still warm…My chest tightened painfully.

[TLN: i kinda wanna beat up MC]

TLN: Hey guys, if you haven’t seen it already, if you guys are looking for another sweet and diabetic series to follow, look no further than our very own AJ’s Transfer Student! Also he’s uh, a bit too fast so pray for his editor Matsu. #pray4Matsu