The Spicy Omega
Translator: Katie
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 21
“What about this, Shinya?”
“You can leave that right there.”
“Got it.”
We tied up all the unnecessary textbooks in twine and left them outside my room.
The closet was in such a state of disarray because of all the various things I’d stuffed in it. It got to the point where all of that stuff would tumble out in an avalanche if you opened it, so it was sealed shut for a while.
But since I would be leaving the house today, we needed to sort through it, pack only the necessary items, and leave out all the useless stuff.
Amami, who I called over to help me, was dumbfounded by the flow of objects that came out of the closet in my room, similar to a scene in a manga. The face he made was hilarious.
“Wait. Are you bringing that bronze bear statue as well?”
“You never know when it might be useful.”
“When, why would you use it…?”
Amami spotted a bronze bear statue stuffed into a cardboard box.
Of course, the reason for bringing a questionable, heavy, bronze statue as an interior decoration would be out of a thriller drama-like development.
“Shinya! Are you bringing this as well? It’s heavy and hard to carry, but its lethality is excellent!”
“Father-in-law… are you trying to turn your son into a criminal?”
“You don’t have the right to call me father-in-law just yet!!”
With a mysterious metal object that resembled a wooden carving of a bear in both hands, my father chewed out Amami, who was on the brink of tears.
A couple of days ago, Amami visited our house again when both of my parents were present.
I tried to stop him, but… he wouldn’t listen and said he wanted to greet my parents.
My mom already knew about my relationship with Amami, so she accepted the souvenir Amami brought and smiled immediately, only saying, “As long as you like each other, you can do what you want.”
Surprisingly, it was my dad who rejected Amami.
“To think our precious son was taken by some unknown person, and will even live with a man at that…!”
“Amami-kun’s family is super rich, you know? They have history, and his parents’ home is also amazing, so the one more unknown is Shinya.”
“Dear! Why are you suddenly vouching for this guy…”
“Ah, also Dad, I’m leaving the day after tomorrow. I’ll be going to college while sharing rooms with him.”
“Shinyaaaaaa!”
I felt sorry for my dad, who broke down in tears, but I guess you could say keeping him in the dark until the last minute was the correct choice, since I knew this would happen.
It was a pity that Amami, who practiced saying, “Please give your precious son to me,” in the mirror countless times, couldn’t gain any acknowledgment after that since my dad was too busy sobbing. With tears streaming down his face and a nose full of snot, he had to be consoled by my mom, and Amami was sent off after eating my home-cooked dinner.
I was just going to be sharing a room with someone. Each and every one of them was making such a big fuss over me leaving my parents’ house.
It’s not like I announced that I was going to get married.
“Living together with Amami doesn’t mean he’ll be entered into his family registration.”
“Woah! Kijima’s here.”
“Yeah.”
Kijima appeared in his work overalls and spoke as if he’d read my thoughts.
The room where I’d be living already had the minimum furnishings, electronics, and daily necessities, so all that was left was to move my belongings.
And Kijima was the one who would be helping us move them.
Though the person in question said he only needed to borrow his family’s car, I still lowered my head in gratitude for personally helping us out. Also, when did he casually get a driver’s license?
“But still, you sure have a lot of stuff in your room, Karasawa. Are you bringing all of this to your new place?”
“No, I’m throwing away anything I won’t be using. The things I’m bringing are on this side.”
“I see. I already started moving the ones with lids on them.”
“Sorry for the trouble and thanks. I’ll pack up the others soon.”
I saw off Kijima, who went downstairs after he casually picked up a seemingly heaving box, and increased my packing speed.
I ignored Amami and my father, who started arguing about something else again.
I wholeheartedly separated my nostalgic textbooks, albums, and such from my necessities so that only a small percentage of what was important remained in my overflowing room.
When I looked around to see what exactly was crammed into this small room, I saw that the bulkiest items were the unused pots my mother left and the souvenirs from abroad from my father. And then there were things that we hadn’t thrown out for some strange reason, like clothes no one wore and torn curtains, sheets, and futon covers.
So that’s why there was so much pressure on our storage.
My room was definitely only messy because of those things.
One of the things I was bringing to my new home was my PC, which I’d only used for a couple of years. I also packed personal belongings like my favorite mug, writing utensils, clothes, wallet, and phone.
Amami was being annoying about the bronze bear statue, so I reluctantly decided to leave it behind.
“I’m done packing now, so I’m carrying this out.”
“Ah, I can carry them too.”
“Wait, Amami-kun, we’re not done talking yet!”
I casually pulled my father back, who was lashing out at Amami with a mysterious object in his hand, and went downstairs while holding a cardboard box.
Kijima carried the heaviest box for me, so we were able to transport the remaining boxes fairly easily.
Kijima was loading boxes into the car in front of my house.
“Is this everything?”
“Yeah. Kijima, you’re going ahead of us, right?”
“Yeah, since you’re locking the doors. You guys can take your time coming by train.”
The car seats were stuffed with boxes, so we couldn’t ride in the same car. Kijima went ahead with my luggage, and we were going to take the train and walk to my new place after we confirmed the route from the station.
Kijima got into the car with a flourish, smoothly started the car, went onto the road as if gliding, and drove away.
As someone who couldn’t even ride a bicycle steadily, Kijima seemed so cool that it made me admire him… perhaps it’s similar to how one would feel their heart throb over their boyfriend’s driving.
“You seem like you’re thinking about something weird, Shinya.”
“Huh!? I’m definitely not thinking about how Kijima looked cool.”
“…”
I was just joking around, but when I saw Amami blatantly turn away and sulk, I burst out laughing.
“I’m just joking. Don’t take it seriously.”
“I won’t.”
“Hahaha. Let’s go.”
I gently but firmly held Amami’s hands so that it seemed as natural as possible.
When I took a step towards the station, it spurred Amami to start walking along as well.
A laugh secretly leaked out of me when I sensed how bewildered he was.
“Shinya, um, your hand.”
“What? Even though you always hold my hands, am I not allowed to do it too?”
“No, that’s not it. Can I kiss you? Right here?”
“…! Don’t get ahead of yourself!”
With a “Hmph,” I let go of his hand, but this time he was the one who held my hand, even intertwining our fingers.
I was on guard against a kiss in the middle of the streets, but Amami just smiled and lingered by my side without doing anything.
It was hard to tell how much of that was a joke and how much was serious.
“My hands are still a little cold, so holding hands is much warmer.”
“…I guess so.”
“So, when are you going to call me by my first name?”
That again.
The ikemen smile from earlier disappeared into thin air and Amami’s smirking grin appeared.
Amami suddenly started using my first name before I was even aware of it.
When I first noticed it, I was embarrassed and told him to stop, but he said that it was natural between lovers and forced his way around it.
I was weak to the words “natural between lovers.” After all, I didn’t know what typical lovers were like outside of manga and dramas.
Ever since then, he would pester me every time I saw him to call him by his first name.
We were just friends only recently, so even if he told me to do this and that as lovers, it was hard to immediately change gears.
“At some point…”
“If you say that, then I’ll end up becoming an old man by then.”
“I’ll call you that before you become an old man!”
“So it makes no difference if you say it now then.”
I was almost convinced for a moment, but then I shook my head in denial.
It felt like whatever Amami said seemed correct to me, but that was just part of his usual tricks.
I was about to reject him as usual, but I was troubled when I saw his lonely eyes.
“Is… is it really that important that I call you by your first name?”
“It’s important.”
He nodded without a pause, looking serious. Really…?
At any rate, since it was a request from my lover, I should probably man up and give in to him.
It was just a mere three letters.
But they were three super heavy letters.
“Ugh… R-Ren?”
“Shinya.”
The moment Amami’s sad face turned into an elated smile, my lips were stolen for a short time.
“Y-you! What are you doing at a place like this?!”
“It’s okay, there’s practically no one walking around here. No one saw that.”
“That’s not the problem!”
“Then are you saying we can do a lot when we arrive home?”
“…!”
This again. He was speaking in circles around me.
Even if I knew what he was saying, I couldn’t give a clear rebuttal. It’s not like I didn’t want to do things like that—I actually did want to do those things.
But still… if he asked me if it was okay to do a lot, I wasn’t ready to be honest and easily say yes to it.
“Hehe, your face is bright red, Shinya.”
“Shut up! It’s your fault…!”
“It’s fine, we don’t have to rush. I’ve waited six years already, after all.”
“…”
Reconnecting our hands, this time Amami was the one slightly pulling me along.
I’d only realized it quite recently, but Amami was quite the tease.
Whenever I shied away like this, he would always gently tease me about my past denseness, lack of self-awareness, defenselessness, and lack of knowledge of pheromones and secondary genders.
Now, I finally understood why Kijima constantly said, “Are you really fine with choosing Amami?” and “Poor you.”
Speaking of which, Kijima, if you knew Amami’s real personality, you should’ve told me about it earlier…
“You’re quiet. What are you thinking about? You’re dragging your feet.”
“N-nothing…”
“Is that so? More importantly, we’re almost at the station. Aren’t you excited for your new student life?”
“…I guess so.”
I couldn’t say I had no worries or anxieties.
The fact that I had to remake my plans for the future that I had thought about from scratch scared me.
But I also felt that, as long as Amami continued laughing by my side, I could drive my fear for the unforeseeable future away as I moved onwards.
“I love you, Shinya.”
“…Nh. I love you too… Ren.”
He approached me with a quick kiss on the lips, and I returned his smile with all my might.
End
A/N: Thank you for reading until now. With this, the story will end… not!!
There are still various important scenes left.
Therefore, the next book after this will start the “college life part” (all 6 chapters + 1 extra chapter planned).
Please accompany me a little further until the conclusion.
Together with this is the last Kijima POV, so thank you in advance for reading that as well.
