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Yukino was sleeping on my lap.

That was all—but for some reason, it filled me with an overwhelming sense of warmth.

She was always so capable, handling everything with ease, never seeming to struggle with anything. But right now, with that innocent sleeping face, she looked almost like my little sister.

“Cute.”

As I brushed her hair out of her face and gave her head a gentle pat, she let out a contented sigh, even in her sleep. It was almost terrifying—if she pulled this move on some random guy, she’d have them wrapped around her finger in seconds.

Her hair was silky smooth, slipping through my fingers like fine threads of silk. I could probably keep playing with it forever.

“Mmm… Ibuki?”
“Morning, Yukino.”

Maybe I got carried away touching her hair, because she stirred awake, rubbing her sleepy eyes. I would’ve liked to admire her peaceful face a little longer, but oh well.

“How long was I out?”
“Hmm… maybe five minutes?”

I hadn’t been keeping track, so I just threw out a random guess.

“Liar, it’s been a whole hour. Your legs must be numb—are you okay?”

Turns out, we’d been like this for way longer than I thought. My internal clock swore it had only been a few minutes, but the actual time said otherwise.

“Now that you mention it… yeah, they’re a little tingly.”
“Geez, you should’ve woken me up!”

Yukino quickly sat up and shifted to sit beside me. She could’ve just stayed there if she wanted.

“You looked exhausted, so I figured I’d let you rest.”

She hadn’t been sleeping well because of that whole misunderstanding, and her job was already pretty demanding. I wanted her to get some rest, even if just for a little while. Though, if I’m being honest, the real reason I didn’t wake her up was just that I wanted to keep watching her sleep.

Since Yukino usually woke up before me, I hardly ever got to see her sleeping face. It’s been a while since I could just sit back and take it in.

When she was asleep, she looked way younger than she actually was—just downright adorable. But now that she was awake, “beautiful” was the word that suited her best.

She had the looks and the skills—there’s no way she wasn’t in high demand.

“So I really looked that tired, huh? I tried covering it up with makeup, but of course, you’d still notice.”
“Work keeping you busy?”
“Mmm, yeah, kinda. Feels like I just go home to sleep these days.”
“You’re kidding.”

I had noticed she seemed tired lately, but I never imagined she was living the full-on overworked corporate slave life. Just thinking about her barely surviving that kind of schedule while still coming over to my place to do housework made me feel guilty.

“If it’s too much for you to come over… you can cut back, you know?”

I was about to say, you don’t have to come at all, but I hesitated. Just for a second, I saw the saddest look cross Yukino’s face.

“But if I don’t come, what will you even eat?”
“I mean… I’d hate it more than anything, but I’d just buy takeout or something. I don’t want you pushing yourself so hard that you collapse.”

Honestly, if I had my way, I’d marry Yukino right now, support her financially, and have her handle the housework instead. But considering I’ve already been rejected, I kept that thought to myself.

“B-but…”

She was trying to argue, but I couldn’t let her force herself for my sake. Even though we lived relatively close, it was still about a twenty-minute walk from her place to mine. Asking someone who was already completely exhausted to make that trip and do housework on top of it was just cruel.

“But taking care of you is basically my life’s purpose. If you take that away from me, I think my life force would start draining…”
“Yeah, but I really don’t want to see you standing in my kitchen with dark circles under your eyes.”

If she kept coming over despite being sleep-deprived, there was a real chance she could collapse on the way. And if that happened… I’d never forgive myself.

“…But, you know… if I leave you on your own, I’d probably just worry about you even more and lose sleep anyway.”
“I’m your kid now?”
“Close enough. You literally told me before that you wanted to be my daughter.”

I did say that once. But that was just me joking around in the moment—I don’t think that way anymore. Because if I were Yukino’s daughter, that would mean she’d have a husband.

And just imagining that filled me with a completely irrational, overwhelming rage.

So yeah… becoming her daughter is definitely out of the question now.

“So, that means it’s fine for me to keep coming over, right? Honestly, I’d be more stressed if I didn’t.”
“Uhh…”

At this rate, she was going to talk me into letting her keep doing this. I racked my brain for a way to stop her—because if I didn’t, I could totally see a future where Yukino collapsed on some dark street.

And then, it hit me.

“Oh! I’ve got an idea!”

Since she clearly wasn’t going to stop coming over, but we weren’t at the point of getting married and living together either, I just had to find a middle ground.

“What?”
“Let’s live together.”
“…I already told you, we’re not getting married yet.”
“No, no, not like that!”

She still hadn’t said yes to marriage, so for now, we were stuck as childhood friends and besties.

“I mean as roommates. Like a shared house. We’re best friends, so it wouldn’t be weird, right?”

We didn’t have to be married to live together. If we just called it a share house, there’d be no problem at all.

“Huh… That actually might work.”
“Then it’s settled! No need to wait for your lease to expire—just move in now!”

Why didn’t I think of this sooner? If I had, we could’ve already been spending way more time together.

“Jeez, you’re so pushy.”
“Of course I am! If it means I get to live with you, I’ll push as much as I want! Hehe, can’t believe I’m gonna be living with you, Yukino~.”
“It’s roommates, don’t get the wrong idea.”

She flicked me on the forehead, but I didn’t care. Because in the end, we were going to live together.

Sure, we’d spent countless nights at each other’s houses growing up, and even now, Yukino probably spent as much time at my place as she did her own. But actually living under the same roof? That was a first.

How could I not be excited?

“Seriously… I don’t get what’s so great about living with me.”

She clearly didn’t understand.

From now on, whenever I came home, Yukino would be there. The person who made me happiest just by existing would be with me from morning till night, every single day.

How could I not be overjoyed?

And the very next day, when I got way too carried away with my excitement… Yukino chewed me out for it.

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