My Rental Boyfriend Is My Boss?! - Chapter 20

Chapter 20. Can’t Decide

It was easy to tell from Kato’s annoyed reaction what he was talking about.

“Well, I don’t know why you’re asking… We’ve always been like friends… See, she’s pretty clumsy, isn’t she? She often has a bad habit of sleeping and making a mess.”

Michiru unconsciously stroked her hair at Kato’s words. As expected, he didn’t leave her sleeping habits untouched today, but she couldn’t complain because she could think of a few things.

She was curious about how he would react to Kamijemori’s voice, which gave her a small giggle. Michiru didn’t realize it, but she even held her breath and listened closely.

Would he agree? Michiru wondered if he would agree, or if he would say, “Well, I don’t see her as a woman.” What would he say? Michiru calmly reflected that she was not the kind of woman she wanted to have as a girlfriend.

She wanted to hear Kamijemori’s true feelings, but she was too scared to ask. The sound of her own heart was annoying.

‘After all, this kind of eavesdropping is not good, right?’

As Michiru took a step back, she heard Kamijemori’s voice.

“Hmm… If you can’t see how cute she is after spending so much time with her, then you’ve got very bad eyesight.”

“… Haha, is that so?”

“Yeah. She’s afraid to speak her mind and holds back her feelings… She’s weird. I think she’s cute that way.”

“She’s not as fragile as you say. If you leave her alone, she’ll start to be as selfish as she wants.”

“Is that so? Maybe so. But I want to spoil the woman I love as much as I can.”

Michiru wondered who he was talking about.

At first, she thought he was talking about his girlfriend, but the more she listened to Kamijemori’s words, the more she couldn’t understand. Michiru couldn’t believe that he was talking about her at all. She wondered if she had conveniently misheard him in the noisy store.

‘Pretending, right? You’re only saying that because you’re pretending to be my boyfriend, right?’

Even though Michiru kept repeating in her mind that yes, it’s obvious, she couldn’t stop her heart from beating fast.

Michiru knew she shouldn’t get her hopes up too high, but her simple and intolerant mind got carried away too easily.

“Sounds like you have a strong relationship, based on what you said.”

“Yeah. That’s why I can’t leave her alone.”

“Oh… you’re very popular, aren’t you, Mr. Kamijemori?”

“There’s no reason to deny it.”

“I understand. You should take good care of her.”

Michiru was tickled by Kato’s words. In all their years of friendship, they had never said anything like that to each other. But the voice she heard was just like an older brother wishing for his younger sister’s happiness.

Now, the words that Kamijemori once said, “You were a special friend to him, too,” sank into her heart. At the same time, she felt a secret sense of guilt.

‘Minoru is not my real boyfriend…’

Would Kato be disappointed if he found out that Michiru was lying about him? Will he be disappointed?

“That’s… not for me to decide.”

The same guilt was felt, and the voice of Kamijemori that was heard was powerless.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you home?

“Yes. I think it will be hard to come back to the car.”

A few tens of minutes after Michiru returned to her seat, Kamijemori was crushed. It wasn’t so much that he was drunk, but rather that he was easily defeated by the sleeping demon, and fell asleep easily when he realized it.

After paying the bill, Michiru turned down Kato’s offer to take a cab with him to his house. She didn’t feel comfortable going through Kamijemori’s belongings to see his address, and she was worried about leaving him in such a state to someone else.

‘Besides, it’s probably my fault that Minoru, who never drank before, drank today, right?’

It was probably because of Michiru’s obvious panic when Kato said that Kamijemori could stay in her room.

Michiru thought whether Kato was wondering if they were really going out, so he took Kato’s offer to change the subject to help her out. She didn’t realize it at the time, but now that she looked back on it calmly, that’s probably why he drank.

If that was the case, it was only natural for Michiru to take care of Kamijemori. Besides, Michiru had taken care of him before, so this was her way of returning the favor.

When Michiru imagined Kamijemori in her room, she had pink fantasies, but the current Kamijemori doesn’t have a shred of romance. Michiru was walking with Kamijemori on her shoulders, but he was so heavy since he was asleep 80% of the time.

The slightly humid air from spring to summer clung to her face, making her feel uncomfortable, but she managed to reach her apartment, bathed in the warm night breeze and sweating like an athlete after a running practice.

“Ha… ha… I’m here… ha…”

At first, she was worried about what would happen if Kamijemori noticed the smell of her sweat, but by the time she stumbled up the stairs of her apartment, holding onto the railing with all her might, she no longer cared about the smell of her sweat.

Michiru threw Kamijemori into bed, dexterously removing the clothes scattered around the room with her toes, and slumped to the floor, feeling liberated and exhausted after a day of work.

She slumped to the floor in exhaustion and a sense of release from the work she had done. 

“… Hmm…?”

At that moment, Kamijemori woke up, probably from the shock of being thrown into the bed.

Michiru, who was exhausted by the side of the bed, looked up to see her eyes drifting around the room in wonder.

‘Oh dear. I’ve left everything out… but the way he’s acting, he won’t wake up until morning after he’s gone to sleep again anyway, so I’ll just hide anything I don’t want him to see in the meantime.’

Michiru was also drunk to some extent, but not too drunk. Everyone in the Oikawa family got drunk, so it’s not often that they get so drunk that they lose their memory, as they did at the after-party.

“… Hmm…”

She thought that if she left him alone he would fall asleep again, but a shimmering gaze acknowledged Michiru. He smiled softly at her.

“Oh… don’t sit there. Come here.”

“Oh, what?”

Suddenly, for a moment, Michiru couldn’t believe that the words were directed at her.

As she looked around and pointed fearfully at herself, Kamijemori crossed his body, opened his arms, and came over.

“Come here.”

The sight of so much, the sweet low voice, the debauched expression, made Michiru’s mind go blank in an instant.