I Want to Hear Your Voice

“Then, I’m off.”

Sousuke gave a wry smile to Satori, who had come all the way to the front door to see him off on his way to work. 

(He probably tried to hide it, but it’s so obvious that he looks lonely.)

“I’ve said it many times already, you don’t have to wake up so early in the morning to keep up with me. Even if you’re a freeloader, you don’t have to go out of your way to see me off.”

(Maybe he forced himself to do all this? It’s true that I said I’d kick him out if he didn’t follow the rules, but he should just take it easy. I don’t think he would do anything bad at this point anyway.)

Every time Sousuke’s thoughts reached him, Satori’s chest became warm and fuzzy.

“I-I didn’t force myself to do this. Not at all.”

Seeing Satori shake his head, Sousuke’s eyes softened.

(He’s so cute…)

Satori widened his eyes in surprise. Seeing that, Sousuke looked slightly confused.

(…What’s wrong?)

“Ta-take care. Good luck at your work.”

Hearing Satori’s words, Sousuke chuckled. He stretched his hands out and ruffled Satori’s head. Satori widened his eyes, he could feel the warmth in Sousuke’s eyes as he stared at him. Satori’s face turned bright red.

“I’m off.”

“Ta-take care!”

Even after sending Sousuke off, Satori remained in the same place for a while in a daze. Then a white fluffy spirit jumped around at his feet, demanding water.

“Ah, sorry. I’ll give it to you now.”

Satori gave some water to the white fluffy spirit, then cleaned up the dishes that had been used for breakfast. Sousuke had told him not to do things that would make a loud noise when it was still dark outside because it could bother the neighbors. That was why Satori waited for dawn to break while dozing off on the living room sofa, or looking at the scenery on the balcony.

“Separate colored clothes and white ones. Check if there’s something left in the pocket or not. For detergent, use only the one for clothes, not the one for hair…”

Satori mumbled the instructions that Sousuke had taught him. While still looking a little bit nervous, he carefully pressed the button. When he saw the washing machine start working normally without making any weird sounds, Satori was relieved. There were also no bubbles pouring out like the first time he had failed in using it. Satori thought that he wanted to clean the house while waiting for the laundry to finish, so he headed to the living room.

Several white fluffy spirits followed Satori’s footsteps. It caused him to almost step on them.

“I might step on you.”

When gently talked to, the white fluffy spirits got more excited and jumped around Satori.

“Ah!”

Satori had said it as a joke earlier, but now he really felt like he might accidentally step on one of them. As he tried to avoid them in a hurry, he slipped his foot on the wooden floor. He couldn’t catch himself in time and hit his right knee hard.

“Oww…”

The pain was so intense that Satori had to stay crouched there for a while. As he stayed still, the pain eased up a little. He pulled up the hem of his pants to check his kneecap that was bleeding internally. It would turn into a bruise if it was left like this. But the kneecaps were usually hidden under clothes. So, as long as he was careful not to be seen when changing clothes for a few days until the bruise disappeared, Sousuke wouldn’t find out about it.

The pants he wore were the ones he bought together on Sousuke’s day off at the large retail store. Actually, they had planned to go to the ‘planetarium’ too, but unfortunately it was too crowded and they couldn’t enter. Satori was disappointed, but Sousuke told him that they could go there again next time.

After that, they bought some groceries at the supermarket. Then Sousuke bought Satori an ice cream at a place called “food court” on the way home. The ice cream that Satori ate for the first time was so sweet and delicious that he thought his cheeks would fall off. When Satori stared at Sousuke who was in surprise, Sousuke laughed and looked as if he had expected Satori would react that way. Satori’s heart skipped a beat.

Sousuke was kind. Satori had already known this fact, but Sousuke was much gentler than he had imagined. Sousuke never looked at him with disgust or malice, unlike the other spirits or humans he had known up until now. Sousuke treated him just as ‘Sato’, a normal person.  When this happened, Satori was so happy that his heart beat faster than usual. But at the same time, he also felt a little sting in his chest, and an indescribable feeling as if he were about to cry. He didn’t know where all these feelings came from. And he also didn’t know that there was a name for these kinds of feelings.