{A Night Together 1}

After finishing my part-time job at nine o’clock, it takes me twenty minutes to walk home, and by the time I settle into the room, it’s already past ten.
In this shared living arrangement, I wanted to maintain a regular lifestyle as much as possible. Ideally, I wanted to be asleep before the date changed, and eating sweet things like ice cream two hours before bedtime was out of the question.
However, there are times when I break that rule.

When we got back, we sat side by side on the sofa in the dining area.
We decided to quickly eat the melting ice cream. My vanilla ice cream was softening on the sides, and Miyu’s tea ice cream was dangerously sticking to the bag. I hurriedly scooped some with my spoon and popped it into my mouth—it tasted perfectly fine.
“They say melted ice cream tastes the best,” Miyu said, staying positive. She might genuinely believe that.
The new tea ice cream had a nice milk tea color, and sitting next to her, I could faintly smell the aroma of tea. It’s rare to find tea ice cream in a bar form, so I was actually curious about it too. Watching Miyu happily take a bite made me want to try it even more.

“Miyu, can I have a bite?”
When I asked, she laughed and offered me the tea ice cream.
“Sure, go ahead.”
It wasn’t as if she was handing it to me; she meant I could just bite into it directly.
It was a bit embarrassing, but it felt wrong to ask her to “hand it over.” So, I leaned in and took a bite of the ice cream. Miyu gently extended her palm to ensure it wouldn’t spill.
“…Does it have tapioca in it?”
“Yep! It’s delicious, right? It’s chewy.”
“Yeah, it really is.”
The tea flavor was rich and thick, so this new flavor was a hit. Maybe next time I buy ice cream, I’ll choose this one too.

After swallowing the tea ice cream, I decided to ask.
“Want to try some vanilla?”
“Definitely!”
Miyu answered immediately.
I hesitated about what to do next; since she had shared her ice cream with me, handing her my spoon and cup felt a bit impersonal.
So I scooped a bite of vanilla ice cream with my spoon and offered it to her.
“Here, go ahead.”
But she suddenly seemed shy, looking at the spoon I was holding with a bashful expression.
“Oh, thanks.”
While thanking me, she shyly took the spoon in her mouth. After swallowing the vanilla ice cream, she looked up at me, still embarrassed.
“It’s really good. But I didn’t think you’d actually feed me…”
Her words made me even more flustered.
“N-no, it’s just that you offered first, so I thought it was okay.”
“Bar ice cream and cup ice cream are different situations.”
“Is that so? I think the embarrassment is the same.”
In fact, I thought the bar ice cream would be more embarrassing since we had to get closer. Or maybe we should have just handed each other the ice cream instead of going through all this awkwardness.

“Um…”
Miyu fidgeted with her bangs as she murmured.
“I started to think, is this what newlyweds are like?”
She blurted that out without a second thought.
I couldn’t say “yeah,” nor did I want to deny it, so I could only continue eating my ice cream in a strangely unsettled mood.
Miyu seemed embarrassed by her own words too, staying silent and chewing on her ice cream with red cheeks.
We don’t really know what real newlyweds are like, but surely they wouldn’t be this shy. They probably wouldn’t feed each other like this. Thinking that made me feel like I had done something quite embarrassing—this was something I’d try not to think about anymore, or I’d end up blushing again later.

After finishing the ice cream, I headed to the bathroom alone.
The smell of oil from the hot snacks at the convenience store clung to me. Miyu would say things like, “It smells good,” to be supportive, but I felt it was unwelcome, so I tried to wash it off as much as possible.
I lightly dried my washed hair, stopping when it was still slightly damp. Then I changed into my pajamas, a sweat set, and returned to the room.