Kushida Kikyo propped herself up. The blanket slipped to her waist, and she hurriedly tugged it back up around herself before glaring at him.
"What are you looking at? Haven't you seen it before?"
"I have. Last night, didn't we—"
"Shut up."
Kushida Kikyo's face turned bright red.
She snatched up a pillow and raised it as if to hit him, but never brought it down. In the end, she threw it onto the bed, hugged the blanket, and turned her face away.
"You're not allowed to bring up last night."
"Why? Last night was so..."
Kazehara Tetsu drew out his words.
"I said shut up!"
Kushida Kikyo turned back, her eyes wide like a cat with its fur standing on end.
But after glaring at him for two seconds, she caught his half-smile and lost her composure first. The corner of her mouth twitched before she forced it back down.
"Honestly... how did I..."
"How did you what?"
"How did I let you get your way again?"
Kushida Kikyo hugged the blanket, looking thoroughly vexed, though there was little sincerity in her voice. "I said I was only coming over to repay a debt, but then..."
"You paid back the principal and interest in full," Kazehara Tetsu finished for her.
"You're still going on about it!"
She grabbed the pillow again and actually threw it this time, hitting Kazehara Tetsu square in the face.
Kazehara Tetsu didn't dodge. He let the pillow hit him, caught it, and set it aside.
"Come to think of it, this wasn't the first time."
Kushida Kikyo froze.
It really wasn't the first time.
What lay between them had begun long before this.
The first time had broken the ice, the second had made it familiar. By last night, neither of them had found