Shino, who had taken a bath and warmed herself up thoroughly, sat down on the sofa with a flustered look on her face.
The clothes she was wearing belonged to Sandai.
It was obvious that I didn’t have any spare clothes, so I lent them to her as a matter of course……. This is the second time I’ve done this.
“….. Anyway”
“Yes?”
“You said it’s an hour train ride to your house, right? Well, I mean, I know it’s not walking distance home, but is it safe to stay at a…… guy’s house?”
“I’m fine. I said I’m staying at a friend’s house.”
“It would be a big problem if they find out…… I mean, why don’t you stay at your friend’s house instead of mine? I know you have friends who live nearby, right?”
“I do….. but I might be a nuisance.”
“You think it’s okay to bother me?”
“That’s not what I meant …….”
Sullenly, Shino interlocks her fingers together.
The gesture, as if to say she was sorry, somehow took the venom out of Sandai.
“I’m not sure what to do with the uniforms. What are you going to do with the uniforms? If you leave them to dry after they’ve absorbed the rain, they’ll smell.”
“That’s true…. Cleaning shop, they’re close while this typhoon, right?”
“It’s a typhoon, and as you’d expect, they’re closed temporarily, even the ones that are open 24 hours a day.”
“I know. I can’t help it. …… I’ll do it myself.”
“Do what……?”
“If you have laundry detergent and a bucket, let me borrow it.”
Can a gal do laundry? In the first place, can they wash their own uniforms?
Sandai tilted his head dubiously but did as he was told and handed over a bucket of detergent and a bucket.
Shino then began to hand-wash the uniforms in the bathroom with a deft hand.
“Wash your hands……. I have a washing machine.”
“It has to be hand washed! Have you seen the labels on the uniforms?”
“Labels?”
“Here.”
At Shino’s suggestion, Sandai looked at the label on the collar of his uniform. There was a picture of a hand stuck in a bucket.
“This means it’s okay if you wash your hands. The washing machine is not good.”
“….you know it well. Even though you’re a gal.”
“It’s a prejudice that gals can’t wash”
“Oh, My bad.”
“Fufu. Just kidding……Well, there are a lot of girls who can’t do as well as Fujiwara seems to think. Not only laundry but housework in general. I’m a pretty good one…… We don’t have a lot of money, so when I have time, including taking care of my sisters, I manage on my own. I started working part-time because I wanted to earn enough money to spend freely on my own.”
Apparently, due to her family’s circumstances, Shino can do a fair amount of housework there. She is different from ordinary gals.
I felt I had seen an unexpected side of her.
“You’re cool”
“Yeah……”
Shino narrowed her eyes and smiled thinly.
It was a smile that, from some angles, appeared to be pleased.
Perhaps she was happy to be praised.
(……When I see such honesty and genuineness, I feel a little foolish for trying to distance myself from the relationship because it is a natural one.)
Reflecting on himself up to now, Sandai reflected a little.
Then, I felt the urge to treat her normally from now on and offered to help her with her laundry.
Then Shino suddenly turned bright red for some reason and refused to help.
“Washing by hands seems like it would take a lot of effort, and I’d like to help…”
“No, I don’t mind!”
“You don’t have to refuse so strongly.”
“I’m washing that….. too.”
“I can’t hear you. What did you just say?”
“I was washing my laundry along with my underwear, so …… I don’t …… want to.”
When told, Sandai glanced into the bucket. Then he saw something reddish under the foam. The uniform is not that color – so it is underwear.
There is nothing strange about washing underwear.
Since she was soaking wet during the visit, it is only natural that her underwear must have been wet as well.
Why didn’t I notice that?
Mixed with his own foolishness in not being able to guess, and his embarrassment at having caught a glimpse of her underwear, Sandai’s face turned as red as Shino’s.
“I see…… that you washed your underwear as well…….”
“Umm, yes…… I was washing my underwear too…….”
At any rate, Sandai decided to retreat from the bathroom quickly.