A Secret Outing
Recently, I haven"t been going anywhere with Hiiragi-chan except spending time at her place. Our relationship being a secret, we can"t hang out outside very often. However, I wonder how she really feels about all this. If it"s Hiiragi-chan, she would probably insist that it was fine like this.
"Recently, the amount of time we spend relaxing at home has increased, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
Across from me, Hiiragi-chan tilted her tea cup a bit, while looking at me with curious eyes.
"It"s nothing… I was just wondering whether you felt bored."
"I like it, you know? This relaxing time that we have. At first, I said that I wanted to go places and have fun, but after getting used to it, this is nice in its own way."
She said quite a mature thing. If she had a place that she wanted to visit, she would have mentioned it, so it doesn"t seem like she"s particularly dissatisfied.
"Next Sunday, why don"t we go somewhere fancy for a change?"
"Next week…? Ah. Sorry. That day is a little…"
"Ah, did you have plans?"
"Yeah… well… just a little…"
"What were you planning on doing?"
"Eeeh? It"s nothing, nothing important."
Hiiragi-chan"s eyes were swimming around. It was unusual for the Hiiragi-chan, who would immediately answer in the affirmative when I wanted to do something, to refuse. Rather, I was a little taken aback, because I didn"t expect her to refuse.
"I-I see…"
"S-sorry!"
In the end, Hiiragi-chan clasped her hands together and apologized, but never told me about her plans. Maybe she"s getting tired of me…? It"s already been half a year since we started dating. Doesn"t this happen a lot between couples? The end of the honeymoon phase!? She"s been around me for too long and now she"s tired of me…?
Since Hiiragi-chan is Hiiragi-chan, if the plan wasn"t that big of a deal, I believe it should have been fine for her to tell me… Hmmm? She didn"t want to say it, so her saying that it wasn"t a big deal was just an excuse?
Even when I asked her again, she just said, "It"s just something trivial…"
Cheating…? No, my Hiiragi-chan would never do something like that…
Due to my extreme anxiety, I called Natsumi-chan in order to confide with her about it.
"Haru-chan, cheating? No no, that can"t be possible, right?"
"No, but, even if I ask, she won"t tell me at all."
"Well it"s certain that she wants to keep something a secret from you."
"I was wondering whether that would be something like an affair or something along those lines… If you don"t have anything to feel guilty about, then you don"t need to hide it, right?"
"You have a point. But, if you"re really that worried, why don"t you just secretly follow along? If Haru-chan were in the same position, she would definitely do that, right? She"s a stalker after all."
Natsumi-chan laughed as if remembering something.
"Why don"t you tell Haru-chan what you"re thinking right now. She would probably cry tears of joy, you know?"
"Is that really so…?"
"That feeling that Haru-chan gets when Thief-kun makes her heart skip a beat… That, I think I get it a little… Normally you look to be very composed, but when you show a weaker part of yourself, that gap, it"s just a little… unfair…"
The last part was said quietly while mumbling.
It seems to be the thing that"s called gap moe. I can understand it myself, but I couldn"t help but tilt my head and wonder whether I was really like that.
"Natsumi-chan, are you like Sensei in liking gaps like that?"
"E-enough about me… Anyways, everything besides that matter is normal, right? It"s fine, for sure."
Even if she tells me that it"s fine, I still felt uneasy.
Sunday, I started my stakeout early in the morning from a position where I could see Hiiragi-chan"s place. I observed for about an hour, but no one moved in or out. The car was parked in the parking lot, so I don"t think she"s left yet.
"h.e.l.lo!"
Pon, someone tapped my shoulder from behind.
"Uwah, that scared me."
Natsumi-chan had arrived. The luxury car that seemed to have brought her here, drove off quietly down the road.
"Were there any movements?"
"Not at all."
At work yesterday, I had told her that I was going to do a stakeout, so she probably came out of curiosity.
"Thief-kun, buy me an anpan and milk."
"I don"t want to. If you want it, buy it yourself."
"Then it won"t match the atmosphere!"
"I don"t care about that. Ah, she came out."
She wasn"t wearing something as fancy as when she"s going out on a date with me. Instead, her attire seemed a little rough and easy to move in, with a cap on her head.
"I wonder where she"s going, Haru-chan."
She seemed to be in a good mood as she spun her keys with her finger and then got into her car.
"This is bad. She"s planning on going somewhere far."
I grabbed the handles of my bike.
"Eh? You"re planning on chasing after her on your bike?"
"It can"t be helped, right?"
"Wait, just wait a moment. I"ll call."
Call?
Natsumi-chan brought out her cell phone and called someone.
"… h.e.l.lo? It"s me. Can you bring a car around? Yeah, around Onee-sama"s home… Yeah, yes. It"s urgent, please hurry."
Her character had changed into one of a feminine lady.
"What? Why are you staring at me like that?"
"I was just thinking that you really were a lady."
"Talking like that is too stiff, so I don"t really like it. But if I don"t do that, everyone at home will treat me like a delinquent."
It seems that a lady has her own troubles.
In exchange of Hiiragi-chan"s car, a black-painted luxury car that Natsumi-chan had summoned came by. The two of us then got on.
"Chase after Onee-sama"s car."
Natsumii-chan pointed at Hiiragi-chan"s car that was driving away in front of us. Her manner of speech, and the gestures were all that of a refined lady.
"What?"
"No, I was just thinking that this is also a sort of gap. It feels super refreshing."
"S-stupid…"
I was punched by Natsumi-ojou-sama in the shoulder.
Wondering whether she was going to meet another guy, I became worried as Hiiragi-chan"s car entered a paid parking lot. In an upbeat manner, she got out of the car and walked away. We also got out of the car, and followed behind her.
It was a lively area located near the train station. I felt like this area was a perfect place to meet up with a guy and have some tea or something…
"I wonder where she"s going."
"Do you want to bet? I bet that she isn"t meeting with another guy. If she wanted to keep it a secret from Thief-kun… it probably has something to do with her interests."
"Gambling. That isn"t something Natsumi-ojou-sama would do, right?"
"S-shut up, idiot… Stop calling me with Ojou-sama."
When I teased her, Natsumi-ojou-sama once again gave me a punch in the shoulder.
"Wai— Ojou-sama, it hurts."
"It"s because you keep poking fun at this Ojou-sama."
As we were taking jabs at each other, we saw Hiiragi-chan enter a multipurpose building.
Which store is she planning to go to…?
Taking a look at the tenants, there was a convenience store on the first floor, and from the second floor up, there were offices and an internet café. It was a lineup of stores with no unified purpose.
[Ma.s.sage Main Hall] ——My eyes stopped at this pink colored sign, it seems that Natsumi-chan was also interested in it.
"A ma.s.sage…? Forty minutes for 10000 yen, isn"t that expensive?"
It"s probably not the ma.s.sage that Nastumi-chan is thinking of…
"Natsumi-chan, it"s not one of those normal ones…"
"Eh? If it"s not normal, then what is it?"
Why is she always this dense when it comes to things like this?
"The pink color and cheaply designed sign——it"s a store for perverted ma.s.sages."
"Perverted… Eeeeeeeeee!?"
Natsumi-chan"s face turned red. While opening and closing her mouth, she pointed upwards at something her finger.
"The elevator, it stopped at that floor…"
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeehhh!?"
No one else has gone into the elevator since Hiiragi-chan… Which means… what is this? A ma.s.sage parlor for men. If Hiiragi-chan is entering it, then is she secretly working there…? The shock was so great that Natsumi-chan and I could only stand there stunned.
In front of our eyes, a person with eyes hidden by a cap quickly pa.s.sed by. They pushed the b.u.t.ton and waited for the elevator.
"Hmmm, Haru-chan?"
The person reacted with a twitch of their shoulders.
"Ah, no, this isn"t Hiiragi Haruka."
As usual, she was terrible at lying.
"Haruksan, where are you going?"
"Haaah~ I guess it was found out… I have something to do on the seventh floor of this building."
The seventh floor. There"s the [Beauty Salon].
""So that"s what it was…""
Natsumi-chan and I sat down right there.
Taking a closer look, Hiiragi-chan was holding a bag from the convenience store. The person that headed towards the ma.s.sage shop wasn"t Hiiragi-chan at all.
"It"s an aesthetic shop that rumor has is really hard to get reservations for. I was finally able to make a reservation for today."
"If it"s just that, then you could have just told me…"
"I just wanted Seiji-kun to say, "Hmm? Haruksan, did you become prettier?" and so I kept silent."
"See. I told you it was fine," Natsumi-chan pounced on that statement.
She then explained to the confused Hiiragi-chan.
"Thief-kun was super worried whether Haru-chan was going to meet another guy."
"Heeeh~? Really? He was worried?"
Hiiragi-chan peeked at me happily.
"That"s right, I was worried… just a little."
"Ufufu. It"s almost time for my reservation, so I"ll see you later."
She said that with a smile and got on to the elevator.
Nastumi-chan and I had accomplished our goal so we left.
After returning to Hiiragi-chan"s place and relaxing for a bit, the owner returned.
"I"m home. How is it? This Haruksan that came back from a beauty salon."
"… Yeah, it feels like your skin is a little shinier. It"s pretty."
"The only reason that I went to the beauty salon because I wanted Seiji-kun to say that."
She hugged me tightly. Hearing her say that she wanted to get prettier for me, it really doesn"t feel bad.
"That"s a relief."
As I quietly muttered a statement of relief within my chest, I showed her the best smile that I could make.