Beautiful Barking Tsundere

Chapter 41

Original Author: ひのはら (Hinohara)
Date Submitted to Kakuyomu: 2021/10/16

It has been a week since Aira returned to the house where she was raised.
Now she doesn't need to worry about preparing food. Her mother also handles the laundry and cleaning.

By all means, this should be a comfortable life but without Ema by her side, it feels unbearably lonely.

Aira thinks of her as she flops down on her bed.

Her bed is smaller than the one in Ema's apartment. The two of them definitely wouldn't be able to sleep together on this.

"Ema..."

The words Aira left her with on their last day together are, "I'm off."

She promised that she will not return to that apartment until it is time to live in it again.

Otherwise, she would become far too attached.
Aira would cling to Ema and put her on the spot by refusing to return to her parents' house.

Feeling thirsty, she gets up from bed and heads for the living room.

Her mother is making cupcakes in the kitchen. She seems to be in a great mood after all that husband-wife time.

"It's great that papa fully healed up."
"It truly is. Did you have fun living with Ema-chan?"
"...Yes, unbelievably so."

Aira had so much fun with and loved Ema so much that she didn't even want to leave.

Grabbing a sports drink from the fridge, she begins drinking it on the way back to her room.
She faces her desk and begins flipping through her reference book.

"Alright...!"

It's precisely because she misses her days with Ema so much that now is the time for studying.

She has to study diligently and get into the university she's aiming for.
She will graduate from high school and return to Ema's apartment as an adult.

While focusing on her studies, she glances at the framed photo on her desk.

This is a photo of Ema and Aira on their onsen trip.

"Ema..."

While being soothed by her lovely smile, she wonders what Ema is doing right now.

Is she hanging out with her friends?
What did she eat for dinner tonight?

There are so many things that she wants to know. She feels tempted to just contact her, but they already chatted for so long on the phone yesterday that she promised to study for her exams today to make up for it.

Even apart, Aira still thinks so much about Ema. Is Ema thinking about her right now?

Perhaps she's enjoying her life without giving Aira a second thought.

Aira can't help but pout when she imagines that.
Feeling like the number of things she doesn't know about Ema is increasing, Aira can't help feeling lonely.

She unenthusiastically watches a romantic drama while drinking beer.
This foreign drama was popular last year, but she couldn't concentrate and soon stops the video.

After all, she only put it on to distract herself from her loneliness now that Aira is gone. She never cared for it from the very beginning.

Without Aira here, the apartment feels larger than before.
Even though Ema has been living here all alone until just three months ago.

"...What's Aira doing now?"

It has been one week since Aira left.

Looking at the calendar, they are in the latter half of November and about one and a half years away from Aira graduating high school.

"Such a long time..."

She glances at the time.
It's 9:00 p.m. Aira probably hasn't slept yet. Ema really wants to call her.

However, in order to make up for their long call last night, Aira said she would spend today studying for her exams. That earnestness is just like her.

"Well, that earnestness is also part of what makes her cute."

Ema opens up a talk app and clicks on Aira's name to show their chat history.
They haven't sent any messages since that call yesterday so the conversation is completely different from what they last talked about.　

"...What am I doing?"

She knows that Aira is studying, but maybe it's okay to contact her just a little?
Although she acts the part of an adult, Ema is still a child in many ways.

If she truly cares for Aira, Ema has to control herself for Aira's sake.

Knowing Aira, she'll surely blame herself if she gets distracted from her studies due to Ema reaching out.

"...I want to touch Aira."

Remembering the feeling of Aira's skin during their onsen trip, Ema is at her wit's end.

She desperately pretends to be a responsible adult, but her mind is overflowing with worldly desires.

Whenever she has time, she thinks about touching Aira. In order to make her happy, Ema made frequent trips to the convenience store to buy snacks.

Ema was on the verge of losing control when she touched her at the onsen.

"...Not very cool of me."

Even though she kept calling Aira a child, Ema has no right to say that.

Suddenly, she realizes how happy she is.

This is her first time learning that being in love could be so fun.
She's experiencing a love so sweet that thinking about it makes her heart pound.

The person she loves feels the same way and thinks of her first.

Could there be anything happier than this? She's so happy that it scares her.

She wants to become one with her beloved Aira as soon as possible, even if it's just one second earlier.

"I want to kiss her..."

Despite knowing how wrong it is, Ema misses Aira so much that she sometimes gets the urge to snatch Aira away from her home.

At the onsen, Aira was so defenseless as she slept in her underwear. Ema, on the other hand, was so aroused and nervous that she couldn't get a wink of sleep.

Aira slept soundly because she trusted Ema as an adult to not try anything.

"...Can't a year pass by any faster?"

The only thing Ema can think about is that girl who is no longer in this apartment.
Once the time comes, Ema will show her so much affection as she lets her sweet desires run wild.

Even if Aira cries for Ema to stop because it feels too good, Ema will continue overwhelming her with intense pleasure.

Ema has fantasized about that many times, but actually seeing Aira's crying face would easily stop Ema in her tracks. Then she would desperately try to put her in a good mood.