Living with the Arrogant Queen from High School is Surprisingly Not Uncomfortable

Before opening the door, I put on two masks and wore dust-proof glasses. There’s no need to tell the behind-the-scenes story of how Megumi Hayashi was astounded when she saw me in this state.

Can’t be helped, can it?

I’m quite a delicate man.

“Listen, Hayashi.”

“……Yeah.”

“Let’s go in, then.”

I turned the key that Hayashi had, and opened the door.

For some reason, the room behind the door seemed a little cleaner than before.

“……Huh”

I removed my mask and glasses.

No sneezing. Indeed, this room is cleaner than the last time I was here.

What the hell happened?

Could it be that Hayashi has been coming here without my knowledge and cleaning up?

She’s a pretty dutiful person. Perhaps that’s what happened.

I took a quick glance at Hayashi’s face.

Hayashi, standing next to me, had a stunned look on her face. It seems this was not her doing.

…In that case.

“Maybe it’s the work of your ex-boyfriend’s parents.”

A room that once cared for their son.

It wouldn’t be strange if conscientious parents, filled with various feelings after their son’s transgressions, cleaned this room.

“……Do you think they hold a grudge against me, his parents?”

“Are you scared?”

“I’m scared, of course.”

Hayashi gave a bitter smile.

“But back then, I had no choice but to do what I did to survive.”

Her expression seemed more resolute than before.

“By the way, he always seemed happy when he talked about his mother.”

“……Really?”

“He must’ve been proud of his mother. He always talked about her with joy. ……By the way, you never talk about your parents.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Well, you probably don’t want to know, do you?”

“That’s not true. In fact, I’d like you to tell me more.”

“……We might run into his parents here. Let’s get it over with quickly before that happens.”

And so we began to rummage through the room, interspersing our task with casual conversation.

The room had presumably been cleaned by Hayashi’s ex-boyfriend’s parents, but it still showed signs of having been lived in, just like the last time we were here.

Hayashi occasionally cast a nostalgic, sad gaze at this room where she had spent a few months.

Still, we continued to work diligently.

Since I didn’t know my way around this room, I decided to follow Hayashi and take on the heavy lifting.

But as Hayashi said, she didn’t have many belongings in this room where she had only stayed for a few months. Most of the items she used in her daily life were provided by her ex-boyfriend, which made it seem even more so.

We searched various places, but so far we’ve only found a few pieces of clothing.

“Here.”

After visiting a few places, Hayashi stopped in front of an inconspicuous storage space in the corner of the living room.

“……This could be the last place.”

“Can I open it?”

“Yes.”

I opened the door to the storage space.

Inside, there was a small rack.

“Why would you put a rack in such a place?”

Isn’t a rack normally placed in the corner of a room, a piece of furniture used to store items you might need immediately?

Yet putting it in such a storage space gives me a strange feeling.

“It was originally properly placed at the edge of the living room, you know?”

“Then why move it?”

“When we bought a large TV. He said it was in the way.”

So he moved it without saying anything.

Speaking of which, the TV in the living room was a big one, probably around 50 inches. If there was originally a small TV and a shelf, a rack of this size could definitely be in the way.

“He moved it without telling me, while I wasn’t there. And he didn’t tell me where he moved it. When I got angry about it, he suddenly hit me.”

Hayashi, who was speaking in a calm tone, somehow looked pained.

“I found it about three days later. I didn’t have time to look for it because he kept nagging me to do the housework. At first, I thought it was thrown away.”

…I once thought that I wouldn’t get angry at Hayashi’s ex-boyfriend because I was an outsider, but just now, I felt angry inwardly.

It was hard to keep this anger from showing in my voice.

“So, what’s on that rack?”

“……Well, this used to be my rack.”

Hayashi rummaged through the rack.

“A medical record book. All the documents I received when I contracted my smartphone. University admission certificate. Self-improvement books. ……Stuff that seems necessary, but isn’t.”

“What about the cardboard box below?”

“Eh? What was it again?”

Stopping Hayashi who was about to lift the heavy-looking cardboard box, I stood in front of the rack and took out the box.

“……Wow”

Inside the box that Hayashi opened were a few substantial-looking books.

Among them was a book that looked familiar to me.

“Is it a graduation album?”

“……Nostalgic, isn’t it?”

Elementary school. Middle school. High school.

Three graduation albums were lying in the cardboard box.

Below them, there were a few textbooks probably from high school.

“So, you stored stuff that you used in high school and seemed to be still useful here?”

“Yeah. That’s right. That’s how it was.”

“Are you taking these home?”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

Hayashi, who was flipping through the high school graduation album, suddenly burst into laughter.

“I was so young!”

You’re still young, aren’t you?

You’re not even twenty yet, right?

I decided to refrain from retorting.

“……Ah!”

Hayashi, who had stopped at a page, started looking alternately at me and the album.

“What is it?”

“You haven’t changed a bit.”

“None of your business.”

“Ah!”

I took the graduation album from Hayashi and put it back into the cardboard box.

Hayashi pouted, but soon resumed her work.

However, we didn’t find anything else of interest in the end. We decided to leave, carrying the clothes we found and the cardboard box.

“……Now, there’s no reason for us to stop by here anymore.”

I said.

“Yeah.”

“Be honest.”

“Eh?”

“If you’re sad, you can say you’re sad.”

“……That’s not the case.”

“Don’t pretend to be strong.”

“I’m not pretending.”

Hayashi gave a bitter smile.

“Because now, I have you with me.”