She Sleeps on My Lap/Next to Me Since I was Little/Spoiled Tsukino
“Hmm, it’s all done. All that’s left to do is cook the ingredients, I think Tsukino can handle it on her own, right?”
The hotpot itself is a simple dish, so the preparation is very easy and quick.
I looked into the clock and saw it was only 5.30. Probably there was still time before Hinata finished cooking…
“It’s all done? Too bad, I wanted Yuto to stay a little longer.”
“Well, I don’t mind if I stay a little longer. There’s still plenty of time before dinner.”
“Really? Then what shall we do?”
If it’s something to do when I’m alone with Tsukino then it was already decided. We usually play games or talk about school while watching TV.
“Well, umm… I’d like to sleep on your lap then.”
That’s new.
“Sleep on my lap…?”
“Can’t I?”
“I’m not saying you can’t, but nobody has slept on my lap before, and my body feels really hard. To be honest, I’m embarrassed that I might disappoint you.”
“I’d rather that way. I want to feel Yuto’s warmth.”
She said those kinds of embarrassing words with such straight eyes again…
“Please…”
“…fine then. But I won’t accept any complaints if my lap doesn’t feel comfortable.”
It’s my own way of taking care Tsukino, I want to fulfil all of Tsukino’s request if I could. Otherwise, I don’t have the right to show my face to Tsukino who had the courage to confess her feelings to me.
I sat down on the sofa, and Tsukino laid down on my lap as a pillow. Tsukino’s head is so small and as light as an angel’s wing.
“I’ve never done anything like this before. It’s pretty strange to look up at yuto like this.”
“How are you feeling?”
“I feel very relaxed and comfortable. I think it’s because I can smell Yuto’s scent.”
If she is just my childhood friend, I’d just laugh it off and said ‘what are you saying’. But she is more than just my childhood friend.
Therefore, I found myself nervous when Tsukino said such words.
As I was trying to hide my embarrassment, I looked away from Tsukino and said.
“Tsukino really looks like a cat this way.”
“You’re not getting anything out of me even if you praise me that much, okay?”
“I wonder what I said just now is a compliment.”
“I like cats. When I’m reborn, I want to be a cat. Not a stray cat, but a domesticated cat. I just want to eat food from my master every day, and live a carefree life.”
“I don’t think that is much different than the life you’re living right now.”
“So do you mean that my master is Yuto?”
“…no, I’m Tsukino’s caretaker. I think people who own cats feed their cats because they really love them, but I wonder what does cats thinks of their master.”
“I think the cats are grateful to their master. I’m glad you’re here too Yuto. Thank you for everything, Yuto.”
“Well, we’re childhood friends after all.”
Tsukino turned over with a relaxed expression on her face.
“Yuto is always by my side. …do you remember? The first time we met Mia.”
“I remember.”
Mia is a tortoiseshell cat who was sleeping on Tsukino’s lap at a nearby park.
At first Mia was an abandoned cat, and it was Tsukino who was in elementary school found her and picked her up.
Once a cat is owned by a human, it can never live in the wild ever again. Mia was in terrible shape at the time. Tsukino took Mia who was injured and scrawny, she immediately rushed to her parents in panic to get help for Mia.
After Tsukino’s parents brought Mia to the veterinary hospital, Mia managed to survive.
Tsukino should have become Mia’s owner and all would have been well and good… But the story doesn’t work out that way.
Tsukino can’t keep Mia in her apartment because her apartment is pet-prohibited. It had been decided from the beginning that Mia and Tsukino would be separated.
Tsukino cried so hard that time.
Tsukino, who had always been expressionless since then, cried and refused to listen, saying she would definitely keep Mia no matter what. Knowing how she felt, her parents decided to look for a proper home for Mia.
It was on that day Tsukino ran away from her home with Mia.
“I was really surprised. You put Mia in your school bag and said ‘Let’s find a place to live with Mia.’ Was it because you were really worried about Mia that you asked my help?”
“…it was because I didn’t plan to come home then. When I thought about how lonely it would be to be alone, the first thing that came to my mind was Yuto’s face.”
But Tsukino’s plan to run away from home didn’t last very long.
A day had passed and I only have a little allowance money left in my pocket. We were still in elementary school and we were about to spend the night in a playground at the park. Then, with her tears in her eyes, Tsukino said…
‘—I want to go home. I want to see my dad, my mom and my sister.’
With those words, Tsukino’s plan to leave the house had ended.
“Tsukino went home and cried a lot that time. When your father saw his daughter, he cried too because he was relieved to see her daughter had come home safely. That is definitely the biggest commotion of all.”
“I’m sorry I had troubled you that time. I know that you didn’t really want to run away from home with me that time.”
Tsukino looked at me with her bright clear eyes.
“Yuto was watching over me, wasn’t he? When I said I wanted to go home, he was ready to bring me back to my home.”
I wasn’t that childish to think running away from home would work.
The only reason I ran away with Tsukino is because I was very worried about her. What if she ran out of food? What if someone tried to take her away? I kept a security buzzer in my pocket and tried to protect Tsukino.
Because if that was what Tsukino wanted to do, I wanted to try my best to make it happen.
So, I decided to stay with Tsukino no matter what, no matter how far she went.
…well, my dad was really pissed at me for not stopping Tsukino running away from home.
“It’s something we can laugh about now. Even Mia and I get to see each other whenever we want to.”
After Tsukino went home, me and my father also helped her to find a proper owner for Mia. We managed to find an elderly couple in our neighbourhood who were willing to keep Mia. That is Shimizu-san, Mia’s current owner.
I remember those days when Tsukino used to go to Shimizu-san’s house every day to play with Mia.
“Yuto has always protected me. So, I want to fulfil all of Yuto’s wishes, you can ask me anything you know?”
“What do I want Tsukino to do…? If you ask me, Tsukino have done may things for me, but I can’t really think of the opposite.”
I’m sure Tsukino would try to cheer me up and comfort me when I’m down.
In fact, the day I found out that Hinata is my sister, when I felt down while standing on the balcony, she patted my head and tried to cheer me up.
“Hey, Yuto… I really like you…”
We both went silent. Tsukino’s voice was rather small.
I think she is so single minded.
Even though she knows that I am in love with Hinata, Tsukino stayed by my side. I think her feelings are very beautiful and pure. I found myself almost being attracted to Tsukino, as a girl—
…shouldn’t I be attracted to her?
Hinata is my sister and my unrequited love for her has already ended.
“…Tsukino. I—”
But the words I was trying to say were stuck in my chest and wouldn’t come out.
Maybe I wasn’t facing Tsukino’s feelings properly.
My first love for Hinata, the memories with my childhood friend, and so on… I couldn’t separate those feelings, and I still found myself overwhelmed by Tsukino’s confession.
Someday I’ll have to answer Tsukino’s confession again.
Since a while ago, Tsukino had been silent. I thought maybe she was angry because I didn’t say anything back to her… But wait…
Why did I hear someone was gently snoring?
“Umm, Tsukino…?”
“……”
When I looked at Tsukino, she was dozing off soundly.
…seriously. I thought Tsukino was mad at me.
Come to think of it, Tsukino looked awfully sleepy when I met her at the park. Well, it was just me and Tsukino after all, I don’t mind her falling asleep on my lap.
“…what should I do, I’m stuck.”
Then I could really understand how Tsukino felt when Mia fell asleep on her lap.
I would like to let Tsukino sleep peacefully, but I was sure that she would wake up if I moved my knees even just a little. It was already time for Hinata to finish cooking, even though it’s because I didn’t want to wake Tsukino up, I felt a faint sense of guilt to be late for dinner…
…yeah, I had decided, I’ll be a pillow exclusively for Tsukino for another 30 minutes.
“Perhaps I’m being too lenient with Tsukino…?”
With a bewildered feeling, I looked down at Tsukino, who was sleeping on my lap and let out a sigh. Her sleeping face was innocent, and I thought for a moment that the word ‘angel’ indeed suits her.
I remember when I was little, I would sometimes fall asleep with Tsukino because I was tired of playing all day.
“……”
I suddenly felt like to pat Tsukino’s head, she looked really cute when she sleeps soundly like that. Then I pat tsukino’s head gently making sure she wouldn’t wake up.
As I was touching Tsukino’s beautiful white hair, I found myself unnervingly excited and nervous. If Tsukino woke up then, I would probably jump up and down in embarrassment.
Until then, I had never had such feelings for Tsukino.
“…we’ve been together for more than ten years. I never thought we’d have this kind of relationship.”
Was I patting Tsukino’s head as a childhood friend? Or as a boy? I don’t even know myself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eventually, Tsukino woke up 30 minutes later.
I returned home at a little past six and Hinata was waiting for me with a pouting expression on her face.
“I thought our rule was if one of us is going to come home late, we have to call each other by six o’clock. …of course, you’ll explain why you didn’t call me, right?”
What they say is true, a person won’t be able to move their bodies when they are faced with true fear.
That’s how scared I was of Hinata who was wearing an apron standing at the door.
Hinata can be that angry. I think I had never seen Hinata like that before…
“I’m sorry. I was cooking dinner at Tsukino’s and had some unexpected trouble. That’s why I couldn’t call you…”
“I was worried that you might not eat at home tonight. It would be a shame if you don’t eat it after I went through the trouble of making it.”
“I’m really sorry, I’ll eat lots and lots of them. So, will you forgive me?”
“…come here.”
With a somber expression on her face, Hinata went to the dining room. I seriously thought I was going to be executed or something.
When I fearfully followed Hinata to the dining room, she was arranging dinner on the table. It was a Japanese-style menu based on shrimp and eggplant tempura.
I sat down at the table in fear, and Hinata sat down in the chair next to me.
Then she grabbed the tempura with her chopsticks and brought it to my mouth as if she was trying to feed me.
“Now I’ll give Yuto his punishment. Yuto will finish all of today’s dinner. …so, open your mouth, okay?”
“…eh?”
The food in front of my mouth made me gape.
She said ‘open your mouth’. So that means—
“No, no, no. I’ll surely eat them, but why is Hinata feeding me?”
“I’m not sure I’d be satisfied if I don’t do something that would embarrass you. Being late for dinner without a permission is such a serious crime, you know?”
“…are you, serious?”
“I’m really serious.”
Hinata was trying to feed me the tempura with a look on her face that seemed to be expecting something.
…it’s okay, there’s nothing to panic about. We are sister and brother. It’s just a family joke.
I desperately told myself that over and over again for a while.
Eventually, I decided to take a bite of the tempura.
“How is it?”
“I can’t think of any comments besides it’s really delicious.”
Hinata smiled happily.
“I see, I’m glad you like it. Then I’ll keep feeding you until you’ve eaten all of them. I think I’ll have you try this chicken tempura next. Here, aaaa.”
“A-Aaaa.”
I did exactly what she said, and she seemed really happy about it. She had a big smile on her face, but I feel like a chick being fed by Hinata.
…I told Hinata earlier that it is really delicious.
But the truth is I was so nervous that I couldn’t taste anything.