Chapter 218: Memo

“Don’t move.”

“…Why are you being so fierce?”

Hoshitani Kaoru was quietly scolded by Saita Aina.

He muttered aggrievedly under his breath, tucked in his neck, and the fingers that had been about to cover those few pages on the table immediately stopped midair.

He lowered those beautiful, wet eyes and watched Saita Aina walk over to his side.

The early morning Hokkaido apartment still held a biting chill.

Thin morning light slipped through the gap in the curtains into the room, gray-white and cold.

Saita Aina didn’t continue to scold him. Instead, she pressed down on his wrist as he held the black ballpoint pen.

His hand really was cold, his fingertips as if soaked in ice water, slightly stiff, and there were faint dark circles around his eyes.

He had clearly stayed up all night.

Saita Aina looked at him in this weak yet stubbornly enduring state, and the words she had wanted to press him with caught in her throat.

A dense, fine ache rippled outward from the tip of her heart.

She sighed, picked up the loose knit cardigan from the single sofa beside her, and gently draped it over Hoshitani Kaoru’s thin, slender shoulders.

She even pulled the collar up a little for him.

“How are your hands so cold? Did you not sleep all night?”

“Is Aina Onee-san’s hair a little messy? But Aina Onee-san is pretty, so even without combing your hair you’re still cute.”

Hoshitani Kaoru lifted his face, trying to use obedient words to divert her attention.

He reached his other hand out from under the cardigan and ingratiatingly smoothed the slightly messy hair by Saita Aina’s ear.

Those dark, bright eyes were full of docility.

He tried to cover up the matter of having copied the memo from the black mobile phone all night, only wanting Saita Aina to be a little happier.

But Saita Aina wasn’t completely led astray by him. Her gaze dropped and landed on the low dining table.

It was a densely written life checklist and budget sheet, with many pieces of information sorted into categories.

“The old drugstore has discounts Tuesday nights. You can avoid the identity verification system when checking out.”

“For nighttime emergencies, don’t use the front entrance. The backup entrance is in the alley behind.”

“The supermarket discounts cooked food at 5:30 PM, but avoid the exit next to the front entrance. The patrol car passes by there at night.”

“Don’t buy the wrong color trash bags, or the building manager will keep an eye on you.”

Saita Aina’s heart felt as if something had gently clenched around it.

This information was too detailed, too precise.

It was so precise that even the blind spots for avoiding risk were calculated clearly.

It was impossible that Kaoru could have searched all of this out by himself in this small room in one night.

Her lips tightened slightly. She carefully tapped the paper with her fingertip.

“These… did you look all of these up yourself?”

Hoshitani Kaoru guiltily stopped smoothing her hair. He nodded, then shook his head.

Meeting Saita Aina’s clear yet sharp eyes, he knew he had given himself away when he lied.

The room was quiet for a few seconds, with only the low hum of the heater running.

“A part of it… was told to me by Miss Chika.”

Hoshitani Kaoru’s voice carried a trace of obvious panic.

He gripped Saita Aina’s fingers back and urgently explained, “But she was only afraid you’d have it even harder! She said these could save us from taking detours.”

“If you knew these came from her, you’d definitely feel even more afraid, so I thought I’d secretly copy them down myself… Aina Onee-san, I just don’t want you to be so tired every day.”

Concealment was not betrayal, but protection.

If he told her, she would be more uneasy; if he said nothing, then it was protection.

What a powerless and painful excuse this was, yet it was precisely Hoshitani Kaoru’s sincere intention.

Chika had perfectly implanted this logic into his heart, making him willingly use lies to build the order of this small apartment.

For a moment, Saita Aina didn’t know what to say. The words of reproach seemed utterly pale before Hoshitani Kaoru’s soft “protection.”

That information really had saved them from trouble, and Chika had asked for nothing in return.

This left her unable to even find a proper place to direct her anger.

But seeing Saita Aina silent, Hoshitani Kaoru panicked, thinking she didn’t believe his promise.

He suddenly pulled out that memo on the table that said “nighttime emergencies and escape routes.”

“I don’t need this!”

In front of Saita Aina, Hoshitani Kaoru fiercely tore that thin sheet of paper into two halves, then four, then eight.

He tore the paper into pieces, reached out, and flung it.

Snow-white scraps fluttered into the air and drifted down, as if a late snowfall had come inside this warm little room.

Several fluttering snowflakes landed on his own messy black hair.

He seemed not to notice at all, his catlike eyes narrowing into crescent moons as he grinned foolishly at Saita Aina.

“Hehe, see… I keep my word. Once this is torn, it doesn’t count anymore. From now on, I’ll look into this kind of thing myself. I won’t use hers.”

“How can you be so silly sometimes?”

Saita Aina looked at the scraps of paper scattered all over the floor.

Her eyes stung a little, and a fine ache rose in the bottom of her heart.

She couldn’t bring herself to harshly blame a Hoshitani Kaoru whose whole heart and eyes were focused on considering her.

She reached out and gently brushed the paper scraps from the top of his head.

“From now on, if anything comes up, tell me first, okay? We’ll look into it together, and make the budget together.”

“Mm, I’ll listen to Aina Onee-san!” Hoshitani Kaoru acted spoiled as if it were only natural. He stretched out his two slightly cold feet and wiggled them in front of Saita Aina. “Then will Sister help me put on my slippers?”

“It’s cold. You should put on shoes, or you’ll catch a chill.” Saita Aina smiled helplessly.

She turned, picked up a pair of warm thick slippers, crouched down, and patiently fitted the slippers onto Hoshitani Kaoru’s feet.

She even rubbed his stiff ankles for him.

Hoshitani Kaoru silently listened to every word Saita Aina said, enjoying her care at such close range.

That sense of steadiness from being cared about was like a faint electric current directly touching his nerves.

A tingling, itchy feeling rippled little by little through his whole body.

“I’ll go pour you a cup of hot water. You tidy up the table.” Saita Aina straightened up and turned toward the kitchen.

Hoshitani Kaoru watched her back and nodded obediently.

“Okay, I’ll clean up.”

He lowered his head and looked at the scraps of paper scattered all over the floor, but the smile overflowing at the corners of his lips suddenly faded like melting ice and snow.

He felt happy from the bottom of his heart.

His acting spoiled… pretending to be cute, tearing up the list, all of it was only to make Aina Onee-san look at him a few more times and no longer probe into the source of that information.

As long as she smiled, he felt his concealment was worth it.

But that black mobile phone was still hidden under his pillow.

The paper was torn, but those answers about survival that Miss Chika had sent were already deeply carved into his mind.

They were necessities for them to keep living. He couldn’t really abandon them.

I’m sorry, Aina Onee-san.

I lied again.

But… just think of it as me protecting you, okay?