♥Futarigurashi♥Kotarou lives Alone♥

Chapter 04 - Calm and quiet night

"I wonder if it was obvious that I was crying. Kotarou-chan gave me a frozen bottle of tea so I can soothe my eyes with it. He is such a sweetheart." Mizuki was by the door of her bathroom as Rio was helping her fix a leak from her shower. Her apartment had a shower installed before she moved in here so she was lucky she didn't have to go all the way to the public bathhouse but there were times where she liked to go and get a nice soak from the bath. Mizuki did ask the landlord first but the landlord passed the job over to Rio. "He's so mature for his age." 

"But if you ask me, I don't think it's a good thing." Rio said while fixing the source of the leak. 

"Eh~? But any mother would like to have a child like Kotarou-chan." 

"I'm sure they will but he's not acting like a child like he should. Children should be like children. They shouldn't have to be mature at that age. That's why it's called childhood. Take Ruri for instance-" 

"Nee-chan, I found a bag of peanuts! It's mine now!" She didn't 'find it'. She literally took it out of the cabinet as if she made a new discovery when in reality it's Mizuki the one who bought it as a snack.

"Amazing, you didn't even ask for permission and you opened it..." Rio wondered where Ruri's black hole of a stomach come from. That girl always had room for food no matter how much she ate.

"It's okay for you to eat it, Ruri-chan." Mizuki didn't mind the little girl. She found her adorable just like Kotarou. "You should play with Kotarou-chan when you see him."

"He said he's playing clean the poopy from birds. I don't wanna play with poopy." 

"It's not playing when he's cleaning, Ruri. Maybe I should give him a hand with the cleaning too since he is a good boy." 

Mizuki smiled at Rio's back, "Rio-chan is a good person." 

"Huh?" 

"I mean, aren't you doing that just so Kotarou-chan can take it easy and be like a child?"

"I'm not a kind person at all."

"You say that but weren't you the one who carried me back and took care of me?"

"Heh, and then you left the door open so everyone can see you passed out on the floor. You threw my kindness right back at me with that." 

"I am so sorry."

"Then?" 

"Eh? Then?" 

"What are you going to do about that asshole of a boyfriend of yours? It's best to break up with him." 

"He messaged me afterward. He said he was sorry for being too harsh." 

"Did he apologize for sponging off a woman?"

"It's not like that-" 

"Then what is it? What excuse does he have that he's able to sponge off a woman? I've seen men with no pride and dignity before but wow, he really takes the whole cake to proudly demand a woman for their hard earned money as if it's something to be proud of."

"Rio-chan..."

"Even that old man next door to you is more of a man than he is."

"C-comparing Karino-san to him is a bit..."

Rio sighed and she stood up to turn on the shower for a while and then turn it off again. It's working and there's no more leak. "Alright, it's working properly." 

"Thank you so much, Rio-chan! You're a lifesaver!"

"Mizuki, you don't need men like that. You could do so much better. It's not like he's the only man on earth. You're not yet trapped by him. You have options. Don't stay with him and then end up at a point where options to have control of your life is all limited by him. When that happens, it will be hard for those who cares about you to help you."