Knock knock knock…!

Around ten o'clock, Miyamura Daiki stepped out of his room and knocked on the door across the hall.

"Akira? Are you asleep?"

No reply. Instead, he heard rushed footsteps from inside.

"Dad? What's going on?" Akira opened the sliding door, blinking in confusion at his father.

Daiki peeked inside—nothing questionable—then turned back to his son.

"Your mom wants to switch rooms with Shouko."

"Got it," Akira nodded without protest. When he heard the knock earlier, he already had a feeling this was coming.

"Shouko," he called softly.

"Shouko…"

"…Shouko? Don't play dead, I know you heard it," he said louder, clearly catching on to her act.

But Shouko remained quiet under the blanket, unmoving.

Daiki raised a hand to stop Akira. "Forget it. If she's asleep, let her be. You turn in early, too—I'll go tell your mom."

"Alright," Akira replied.

After Daiki left and closed the door, he returned to his own room.

Miyamura Shizuka looked up from her phone and frowned when she saw who came in.

"…You again? Where's my Shouko?"

"I'm innocent!" Daiki held up both hands defensively. "I went, okay? But Shouko was already asleep, so I came back."

Shizuka raised a skeptical brow. She'd heard from Junko that Shouko had napped all afternoon leaning on Akira's shoulder, so she wasn't sure the girl could fall asleep that quickly.

After eyeing her husband for a long second and seeing no signs of guilt, she sighed.

"Alright…"

Meanwhile, inside the guest room, Akira waited until his dad had fully left before approaching the futon.

Before he could say anything, Shouko giggled under the blanket.

"…You're busted," Akira said, plopping down beside her on the tatami.

"Why'd you fake sleep?"

Shouko sat up, her eyes soft. "I dunno. When I saw Uncle coming, I just… didn't want to leave."

She added quietly, "Besides, it's been forever since we last stayed in the same room together."

"Hold up," Akira quickly cut her off, sensing where this might be going. "Same room, yes. But not sleeping together, okay?"

He gave her a look. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was saying something way more suggestive than she meant to.

"It's the same thing!" Shouko huffed, flopping back down and wrapping herself in the blanket.

Akira lay back down on his own side and sighed, "Totally not the same…"

Now, they were both lying on opposite ends of the room—Shouko on the right near the wall, Akira on the left.

"…Akira."

"…What?"

"Akira. Akira?"

"Just spit it out already."

"Akira." x3

Annoyed, Akira picked up his pillow and tossed it at her.

"Hehe. Guess this is mine now," Shouko said cheerfully, hugging it into her blanket.

Akira checked his watch. "It's past eleven. Aren't you sleepy yet?"

"I slept all afternoon. Your fault, by the way—should've woken me up. That's why I'm wide awake."

But truthfully, Shouko was just too giddy from being in the same room with him again. Her heart was fluttering in ways she wasn't used to.

And unfortunately for her, she accidentally reminded Akira of a certain promise…

"You said earlier you'd grant me one request, right? Still valid?" he asked, turning to face her.

Shouko blinked, then nodded. "Yeah. What is it? I'll decide if I accept."

"I want you to wear that swimsuit we bought and show me."

"Okay," she replied without hesitation.

Akira blinked in surprise.

Usually, she'd freak out, yell "pervert!" or blush like crazy. But this time… she agreed just like that?

"You're not teasing me, are you?" he asked, suspicious.

"What's that look supposed to mean?" she pouted. "If you're gonna be weird about it, go wait outside while I change!"

"Alright, alright!" Akira hurried to the door, slid it open, and stepped out.

About five minutes later…

"You can come in now."

Akira entered, heart pounding.

Only to find Shouko wrapped up in a blanket from head to toe—just her head and hands visible.

"You ready?" he asked, eyes hopeful.

"Mhm."

As she slowly pulled the blanket away…

All the excitement drained from Akira's face.

The swimsuit she chose looked more like a modest summer outfit. Arms and legs exposed, but everything else fully covered—maybe too covered.

"…Okay, you've seen it. Out you go. I need to change back," Shouko said with a smirk, clearly holding back laughter.

Akira gave her a deadpan nod. "…Alright."

He left, quietly closing the door behind him.

Outside, his heart was crying.

This is worse than her school swimsuit from middle school…

—

Later that night, Akira returned. They played around, teased each other, and chatted quietly until 2 or 3 a.m., finally drifting off to sleep on opposite ends of the room.

Early the next morning, Akira was jolted awake by a scream echoing from the hallway:

"YAEKO, WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT DOG OF A MAN IS BACK LOOKING FOR YOU AGAIN?!"

It was Miyamura Shizuka, roaring with the kind of fury that promised no one in the house was sleeping in ever again.

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