The Neighboring Aarya-san who Sometimes Acts Affectionate and Murmuring in Russian - Volume 3 - Chapter 6.1

CHAPTER 6

Hot for more than one reason.

It wasn’t anything super dramatic like my mother abused me or she cheated on my father. In fact, looking back, my mother had always been a soft-spoken, kind person. Things weren’t perfect between her and my father, but she was kind to Yuki and me. She would shower me with praise whenever I did well in whatever I was learning outside of school, and she would even bake us sweets from time to time. Any regular person would probably think she was a good mother. My sister and I loved her as well.

…It all began because of something so small—something that would make any ordinary person say, “Wait. That’s it?” Honestly, thinking back, it really was not a big deal at all. But one day…my mother suddenly stopped looking me in the eye. She used to always look into my eyes, pat me on the head, and praise me as a kid. “Good job. You must have worked really hard on that” and “Wow, that’s amazing,” she would say…until one day, she started to avoid eye contact. Her once sweet smile became awkward, and that was when I realized she was forcing herself to act this way. I thought maybe I wasn’t doing enough. I had to work harder. If I did better, then surely she would be genuinely happy for me from the bottom of her heart.

Hey, Mom. Look. My flower arrangement teacher said I did a really good job. I got my black belt in karate, too. I’ve already studied ahead with these books that middle schoolers use, and I know you like piano, so I—

“Stop! Just stop!”

…That look in her eyes. That wasn’t what I wanted to see. All I wanted was to—

“Mmm…” Masachika groaned, feeling abnormally hot all over.

“Oh…”

He stirred in his bed, and just that slight movement made his entire body and head ache. He was miserable. He’d had a bad feeling last night, and it turned out his gut was right. He had a cold. A sore throat was the least of his problems because he felt like a sack of potatoes. He definitely had a fever. That was when the alarm by his bedside started to ring, so he turned it off by dropping his heavy arm onto it. He grabbed his phone, which was lying there as well, then rolled onto his right side. A sharp pain shot through his arm and shoulder, but it was still far better than having to lift his arm.

“This isn’t going to work…”

After turning on his phone, he decided to call school to tell them he was going to be absent today, but he didn’t know the school’s phone number. He felt like he wrote it down somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where. I guess I’ll just search for it online, he thought, but even that became far too aggravating to handle right then.

“Takeshi… No, Hikaru.”

He thought about which of his friends he could ask to relay the message to their homeroom teacher and decided he could trust Hikaru more for some reason. He imagined Takeshi screaming, “What the hell, man?!” But he didn’t care. He didn’t have enough energy to care.

“…Hello? Masachika?”

“Hey… Sorry about the random call. I caught a cold.”

“What? Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine, but I can’t make it to school today. Do you think you could tell our homeroom teacher for me?”

“Sure, no problem. How about I stop by your place after school? You’re the only one home these days, right?”

“Don’t worry about it. I already have someone else who can stop by to check up on me.”

“If you say so. Take care and rest well.”

“Thanks.”

After hanging up, he used what little energy he had left to text Yuki.

> Sorry. I caught a cold.

> Do you think you could ask Ayano to get me some medicine?

Right after he sent the second message, he feebly dropped his phone before rolling onto his back.

“Sigh…”

He would kill for a glass of water at the very least, but even getting out of bed was too much work. Fortunately, however, he still felt tired, so he decided to go back to sleep.

…I feel like I was having a terrible dream before waking up a second ago.

Perhaps it had something to do with running into his mother the previous day for the first time in forever. He felt as if he’d had an old recurring dream that he’d chosen to repress.

Now that I think about it, I’ve been remembering a lot of old things lately.

The memories of when he was Masachika Suou were something he wanted to seal away and forget forever. Remembering all the bad things and sadness he endured tore at his heart.

Maybe it’s actually because I’m trying not to remember any of it.

He tried to never think about the details of what happened in the past. He stopped himself whenever he almost did, in fact. But the truth was, they weren’t all bad memories. At least, that’s what he believed. But if he tried to remember the good things, his mind would remind him of when he said good-bye to his mother…and what happened with that little girl that day. That was why he had to seal away all his memories in the darkest recesses of his heart. Eventually, the past = bad in his mind, and that belief only grew stronger every time he tried to look away from it.

They say anger and hate slowly fade with time, but they don’t completely go away.

If anything, he still felt deep sadness and pain from his past, despite his memories slowly dissipating. Nevertheless, he no longer knew where the pain and sadness came from. Even now, whenever he tried to remember the past, his brain wouldn’t let him. The fear of facing whatever happened to him prevented him from so much as putting a hand on the lid sealing away his memories.

Sigh… Whatever.

Even using his brain became tiring, so he forced himself to stop thinking. There was no reason to do something that was going to make you more depressed, especially when you were already sick. He simply happened to run into his mother the previous day. He wasn’t planning on facing her now or ever. The past wasn’t worth remembering, for the memories of Masachika Suou were of no use to Masachika Kuze. That was what he told himself as he fell back asleep.

Ding-dong.

“Mmm…?”

Masachika woke to the sound of the doorbell ringing. Although his mind was hazy, he figured it was either Yuki or Ayano at the door, but then he realized that Yuki had a key to the house. She and Ayano wouldn’t need to ring the doorbell. Plus, if he wasn’t hearing things, then maybe that wasn’t the doorbell to his house. It sounded more like the buzzer at the entrance to the apartment building. Even if Yuki rang the doorbell to tell him she was here, why would she be trying to get him to buzz her in at the entrance?

“Did I order something…?”

He tried to roll his sluggish body out of bed, but he depleted every bit of energy he had the moment he rolled onto his side. The thought of pretending not to be home crossed his mind, but the bell immediately rang once more.

“Yeah, yeah… I’m coming…”

Masachika fired himself up and managed to slide out of bed, figuring he should probably get up and walk around at least once that day. However, every step was like taking a hit to the head, making him grimace as he made his way to the intercom…but when he saw who was on the screen, he honestly believed he was seeing things.

“Huh?!”

But there was no way to mistake that silver hair, those blue eyes, and that otherworldly beauty. Alisa, dressed casually, was standing at the entrance to the apartment complex.

“…Huh? Why is she…?”

Masachika couldn’t recall ever telling her his address. Of course, he had never invited her to his house, either. Questions flitted through his mind, but he had only a few seconds to buzz her in before running out of time, so he pushed the answer button.

“…Alya?”

“Oh, Kuze? Are you okay?”

“Huh? Wait… Did Yuki tell you what happened?”

“She told me you had a fever and couldn’t get out of bed, so she asked me if I could bring you some medicine…”

“Oh, all right… Let me buzz you in.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

He pressed the unlock button and watched until Alisa safely stepped inside the apartment complex. After returning to his room, he grabbed his smartphone off the bed, turned it on, and saw a message from Yuki pop up on the screen… He instantly tossed the phone back on the bed.

> Hey, what’s the problem? A silver-haired maiden’s about to nurse you back to health. You’re welcome.

The message was accompanied by a grinning emoji.

“You could have at least told me before she got here… Gaaah…!” shouted Masachika weakly, taking his frustrations out on Yuki as he threw himself facedown onto the bed. While he honestly just wanted to stay like that for the rest of the day, he felt he had to at least wash his hands before Alisa came inside, so he mustered up every last bit of strength he had and headed to the bathroom. After relieving himself, he’d just begun to wash his hands when the doorbell rang, so he clung to the wall and dragged his feet to the front door. He was wearing pajamas and had bedhead so messy it was a surprise no birds had made a nest in it yet, but he was far past caring anymore. It is what it is, he thought.

“Coming…”

He had slid his feet into his slippers and was reaching for the doorknob when he realized he probably should wear a mask.

Wait… Where’d I put my mask?

Nevertheless, his hesitation quickly passed because he couldn’t make Alisa wait any longer, so he unlocked the door before modestly cracking it open.

“Alya…? Thanks…for taking time out of your day…to do this for me…”

He peeked through the crack in the door, using it as a shield, but even holding the door slightly open like this honestly felt like heavy labor to him. He had to bear with it for her sake, though. Alisa’s eyes, however, fluttered in what seemed to be surprise, which might have been Masachika’s fault for showing his face at all.

“Yeah, it’s…it’s fine. You look worse than I was expecting, though.”

“…I bet you were thinking, ‘Even an idiot can catch a cold, huh?’”

“Not at all.”

Alisa softly sighed because he was still cracking jokes, even at a time like this. She then gestured to the bag in her hands.

“Can I come in for a little bit?”

“Huh? Oh, you shouldn’t. I’ll just take the medicine and…”

“…Yuki asked me to stay with you for a while and take care of you,” admitted Alisa almost reluctantly as she slightly pouted.

My dear, dear sister… I do not mind that you have the brain of an otaku, but I wish you would keep other people out of your schemes…

Masachika instinctively began complaining to Yuki in his mind.

“<Sorry. That was a lie.>”

Oh. Apologies, Yuki. Looks like you were framed.

Alisa glanced at him, fidgeting with her hands as he inwardly apologized to his sister. Yuki was used as a scapegoat so Alisa could hide her embarrassment.

“But really, I should be fine. All I need is to take some medicine and get some sleep.”

“You still need to eat something, right? Are you telling me you’re feeling good enough to cook for yourself?”

“Oh, right… I don’t want you to catch my cold, though.”

“Don’t worry. I brought a mask.”

She took a mask out of the bag and put it on, but Masachika had mixed feelings about how thoroughly prepared she was. She was perfect, even at a time like this.