Sweet Cohabitation Romcom With My Senior Girlfriend and Alcohol Starts At Twenty - Volume 1 Chapter 7.4

Love Calls

“Fufufu, surprised?”

“Of course, I’m surprised… What kind of trick did you use?”

“Don’t sound so suspicious as if you’re doubting your lover.”

“So you’re saying you haven’t done anything suspicious?”

“Of course not!”

My lover confidently made a smug face, and I couldn’t help but look at her with suspicion first.

It was probably due to Kureha Senpai’s usual behavior.

Rather than doubting Senpai, I was worried whether Senpai’s usual antics had been directed at Yuu.

“Kureha Senpai says this, but what’s the actual situation, Yuu?”

“…Well, let’s just say a lot happened.”

“Yuu-chan!!?”

“I knew it…”

As expected, Senpai’s teasing nature had also been aimed at Yuu.

On the flip side, it meant that Senpai trusted Yuu enough to do so, which made me happy they got along. But at the same time, part of my heart felt a little cloudy.

“Ah, but don’t worry, okay? My body and heart will always belong to you.”

Well, in the end, my unease is cured with just a few words from Senpai…

***

Let’s turn back time to six in the evening.

The location is a women-only two-story apartment not far from the university.

In a corner of this men-prohibited Eden, two female university students are giggling and enjoying each other’s company.

“Alright, we’re going to have loads of fun today!”

“Kureha-san! Keep it down!! The walls here are thin!!”

“Rather, I think it’s the perfect opportunity to show our neighbors how close we are, don’t you think?”

“That’s not the point! What if we get a complaint and are asked to leave!!?”

“When that happens, we’ll think about it then! If it comes to it, maybe we could crash at Takashi-kun’s place?”

“No, I really don’t think that’s a good idea… I prefer not to involve myself in such situation.”

“I don’t dislike a girl who knows when to pull back.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

Flapping her limbs in high spirits, Kureha contrasts with the room’s main occupant, Yuu, who is frantically trying to quiet her Senpai down.

Even within her own room, she doesn’t remove her trademark hood and listens to Kureha’s jokes with an unfazed, detached demeanor.

Satisfied with Yuu’s composed reaction, Kureha turns to her with a contented expression.

Yuu lightly brushes it off and leads Kureha to the living room.

“So, what brings you here today? Wanting to stay over at my place… Did something happen with him?”

No sooner had they entered the living room than Yuu broached the main topic.

The night before, she had received a sudden message from her best friend’s boyfriend saying, “Let me stay over tomorrow,” which had left her slightly worried.

Could it be that the incident at Takashi’s place still had repercussions…?

She had agreed to visit her best friend’s boyfriend’s place too readily.

that was a mistake, wasn’t it… Ah… I’ve done it again…

Dark thoughts began to swirl in Yuu’s mind.

Self-loathing. Self-denial. A sense of inferiority.

She felt as if Kureha’s presence here was entirely her fault, and she tried to shoulder all the blame while pulling her hood down further.

However, the response she received was the complete opposite of what she had anticipated.

“Hmm? Takashi-kun and I are still lovey-dovey~? He even gave me a love call because he missed me at lunchtime.”

“Ah, is that so… I’m glad to hear you’re both so affectionate…”

Yuu’s fingers relaxed as she listened to Kureha’s words, her grip on her hood loosening.

Kureha showed Yuu the call history from Takashi, wiggling her phone playfully.

“Takashi-kun is so cute, getting all flustered and hanging up after just repeating ‘I love you’ over and over.”

In someone else’s home, Kureha unabashedly gushed with cheeks blushing, while Yuu awkwardly looked away.

But Kureha wasn’t one to miss even the slightest change in Yuu’s demeanor.

“Okay, enough joking around.”

“I thought you were quite serious…”

“I came here because I want to know more about you. To put it plainly, I want us to become closer.”

Without being fazed by Yuu’s slightly blunt words, Kureha declared her intention to become closer with a determined face.

Before Yuu stood a certain Senpai, who had transformed so much from the person who had been agonizing over her lover just moments ago.

“It’s really not interesting to know about me. I think you’d have much more fun teasing Takashi.”

“That’s a fair point.”

Kureha said with her usual charm, though her expression was dead serious.

Yuu found herself unable to voice any strong objections to such a contrast.

“But I just can’t leave it alone. Not with Takashi-kun, and not with you, Yuu-chan.”

“Is it because you feel sorry for me?”

Yuu managed to ask, probing for Kureha’s true intentions. To Yuu, people who approached out of pity were neither rare nor surprising.

Those who habitually wore hoods to avoid the public eye were often treated as spectacles by society.

There were plenty who sought to help such individuals, not out of genuine concern but in hopes of basking in praise.

Some even tried to force Yuu to remove the very hood that was essential to her, despite it being her choice to wear it.

Because of this, Yuu was exceptionally wary of people’s gazes and made sure to wear her hood deep enough to conceal her caution.

The looks of “pity” she received were now among the things she despised the most.

However, the gaze and feelings Kureha directed at Yuu were not of pity.

“It’s different. I simply want to know why you keep your hood on and push people away, Yuu-chan.”

“What will you do with that knowledge?”

“Nothing.”

“…yes?”

“Because if it’s something Yuu-chan wants to do, then there’s no need to forcibly change it. I feel the same way.”

Maybe it was pure curiosity. Kureha was simply asking something without any harmful intentions or the desire to intervene.

Perhaps that was all it was.

“I love to tease the people I adore. Even if they dislike it, I want them to love me for who I am, in my entirety.”

If it’s a choice made to be oneself, then that’s fine.

That’s why Kureha is who she is and why she doesn’t stop teasing, no matter how much Takashi may frown upon it.

She teases because she loves. She wants to be loved for the teasing.

That’s all there is to it.