Chapter 10

Nn…? Uh…?

But why? Why?! This pisses me off!

…I’m putting it on just like Mama, but I can’t make myself pretty at all.

—Sena-kun!

…?!

Kunugi…senpai.

Yep, I’m Kunugi-senpai~ Good job referring to me with the proper respect.

Yeah, I’m great. That’s obvious without even saying it though.

Gh—no no no, I can’t get violent, he’s a child.

…? …?

Sena-kun. What are you doing here? If you don’t get home soon, your parents are going to get worried, you know?

Actually, wait. There’s makeup all over the place… You really just do whatever you want.

Hehe, I wanted to make myself pretty.

‘Cause I’m gonna live here with Yuu-kun forever and ever, so I have to be the prettiest I can be, got it?

Heh, or are you too stupid to get it, Cuckoo Bee-senpai? ♪

(Argh, I want to hit him so bad! But I can’t! C’mon, just hold it in, Kunugi Akiomi!

(This poor, poor kid whose parents didn’t even discipline him properly! He’s a victim too!)

What’s with the funny-looking face? You got some work where you make funny faces?

Modeling’s tough work, huh… ♪

(H–he’s in a good mood, for some reason. But he’s always so angry when he’s at the office.)

(Maybe he’s just that happy to be with Yuuki-kun again…? Wait, no, that’s not what I should be thinking about right now.)

Sena-kun. What did you mean when you said you were going to live here with Yuu-kun—I mean Yuuki-kun?

I already decided. I’m never going back home.

Mama and Papa are the worst. They keep saying bad things about Yuu-kun and when I say I hate it, Papa gets mad and Mama cries.

I’m really good and I always do what they say, so they were like, surprised? when I talked back to them?

But when I saw them like that, I just couldn’t take it anymore… I dunno, but it kinda made me feel stupid for taking everything so seriously.

So I decided to do what I want to do instead.

Not what Mama and Papa told me to do, but what I want to do.

What you want to do…?

It’s be with Yuu-kun, obviously.

From now on, I’m gonna live here with him. And every day we’re gonna eat whatever candy we want and wear pretty clothes and hold hands all night while we sleep.

So? Isn’t it perfect?

……

When I figured it out Yuu-kun and me hid inside a dresser in the furniture department and waited until the filming was done. He was so excited ‘cause he thought we were like spies.

But uh, what’s spies? Like curry?¹

That would be spicy. But now I get what you’ve been up to.

I should never have taken my eyes off you; I was too irresponsible. But I took responsibility, and now I’m here to get you home.

…? What? I said I’m not going home.

Yuu-kun needs me. And I need Yuu-kun.

I wanna stay with him. I wanna be with him forever.

I’ve never had that kinda thing before in my life. I never had anything I wanted to do, I didn’t care about studying or sports or anything.

Every single day Mama and Papa would give me stuff, but I didn’t even really want any of it.

I don’t need it, I don’t need it… It was boring, I didn’t care about it. Any of it.

None of it was what I wanted. It was just what Mama and Papa wanted to give me.

They just piled stuff on top of me ‘til I could barely breathe.

Yuu-kun is the first time I’ve ever wanted something for myself.

I wanted him, I reached out my hand for him, and then I got him.

Mama and Papa didn’t tell me to get Yuu-kun. And I think that’s really cool of me.

So do you get it now? What I’m trying to say?

Yeah, for the most part. Yuuki-kun is really, truly important to you.

(I’m sure Sena-kun’s parents pampered him and brought him up with a silver spoon in his mouth. And that in itself is a good thing.)

(It’s way better than not being loved at all.)

(But because he was given everything before he could ever even want it, he’s probably never actually desired anything on his own.)

(Then, for the first time in his life, he wanted something from the bottom of his heart: Yuuki-kun. To Sena-kun, that kid shined brighter than anything he’d ever seen before.)

(I get it, too. The first paycheck I ever got from modeling was basically nothing, but it still made me happier than my monthly allowance.)

(What you get with your own two hands means so much more than something someone else gives you.)

(It’s not just money—It’s freedom itself.)

(And freedom is a glittering treasure that can’t be replaced by anything else.)

(This must have been especially true for Sena-kun, who’d been loved as if he were just a doll his whole life.)