Chapter 98: Chapter 97 - The Apartment Nobody Was Supposed To See

Three days after arriving home from her summer trip to the beach, Minami Asakura was not only enjoying a peaceful home without students or lesson plans (especially no Akari).

But she was also enjoying her home with nothing on her agenda for the entire day. For the first time in weeks, she had absolutely nothing important to do.

As she lay sprawled on her couch comfortably in an oversized shirt and a pair of shorts with a bag of snacks next to her, her TV was on low in the background.

"This is nice..."

She stretched out as far as she could, enjoying the comfort of her couch and how quiet everything around her was.

Life was good.

Then her phone started ringing.

Minami looked to see who was calling. The moment she saw her mother’s name on the caller ID, the relaxed look on her face disappeared.

Namida Asakura (her mother). Minami kept staring at her phone. It was still ringing.

She thought about not answering it but knew her mother would keep on calling until she had been answered.

Acceptance was her only choice now. "Hello?"

"Minami!" boomed the happy voice coming out of the speaker.

Minami moved her phone from her ear. "Hey, Mom. Good afternoon."

"I have the best news ever!"

Minami felt nervous. In the past, Mom’s "best news ever!" has always resulted in a disaster.

"What is it, Mom?" she asked.

"I’m coming to see you tomorrow!"

Silence.

The world stopped.

The birds stopped chirping.

All of the sounds coming from the TV no longer mattered.

Minami slowly sat up.

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Tomorrow tomorrow?"

"Only one tomorrow."

Minami’s spirit left her body.

Namida continued happily talking.

"It has been so many months since I’ve seen you."

"Not that long."

"Only for a mother."

"Not a measure."

"Well, I’m bringing snacks!"

"Mom!"

"I may bring dinner too."

"Mom!"

"Or maybe some old photo albums!"

"Mom!"

"What is it?"

Minami searched her apartment.

Then re-searched.

Then searched a third time.

Her expression grew progressively worse.

The apartment is a wreck!

Not just a regular wreck.

An advanced wreck!

So wrecked as to deserve a documentary.

Laundry covered half of the couch.

Dirty dishes covered the kitchen.

Books formed unstable multiple towers throughout the apartment.

Convenient store bags exceeded to the point that no one could determine the amount.

One chair completely disappeared.

Minami is unable to recall where it went.

The apartment looks more like an archaeological site than a home.

"Mom!"

"Yes?"

"Can you come next month?"

"No."

"Next year?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Minami closed her eyes.

Defeated.

Totally defeated.

After many more moments of conversation, the call ended.

The apartment once again grew quiet.

Minami stared blankly at nothing.

Then began to stand.

Looked around.

And began to panic.

Three hours had gone by, and still nothing had gotten any better. In fact, the look was worse than when Minami had started. She was making a disaster in one part of the apartment as she was trying to clean another. If she had to move a lot of books from one area to another, she would have created a mess of books and scattered everywhere. If she had to organize a lot of papers then she would have created a huge stacks of papers that kept multiplying. If she tried to wash a bunch of dishes and one slipped off a pile of dishes and broke, at least the plate was okay.

Unfortunately, her faith in herself was mostly gone.

Eventually, she just sat down on the floor of her apartment. Tired. Defeated. Surround by chaos.

"This is impossible", she thought.

The apartment seemed to agree with her.

---

Then the doorbell rang.

She frowningly wondered who it could be, because she wasn’t expecting anyone.

Another one? Ugh.

With no other choice, Minami got off the ground and went to answer the door.

When Minami opened the door, she couldn’t believe who was standing there. Kuro Kurogane...with a gift bag!

"Hey", he said in greeting.

Minami stared at Kuro in disbelief.

"Kuro?"

"Kuro"!

"Shizuka-san and Daichi-san asked me to bring you an appreciation gift for taking us on the beach trip".

Kuro raised the gift up a little higher in the air so it could be better seen by Minami.

"Oh", she said.

"Oh!"

Well, there goes my brilliant comeback.

Kuro was still standing there waiting for her to provide him with a response.

Minami continued to stare at Kuro until she finally realised something.

It was very possible that Kuro was actually going to be standing in Minami’s apartment at some point.

Oh no!

Kuro tilted his head.

"No. Why?", he asked.

"No what?", he continued asking.

"No entering my apartment."

Minami searched her brain for any excuse.

Any excuse at all!

Alas, no such luck.

Her brain abdicated.

At the worst possible time.

"I have reasons."

"What reasons?"

"...Reasons."

Kuro’s face indicated all was not well.

Very reasonable!

Then suddenly an explosion went off somewhere in the apartment.

It echoed loudly.

For a moment all was silent.

Kuro turned left and right. Glanced behind her.

Then moved to consider the space beyond Minami.

Moments later Minami was contemplating moving out of the country.

----

Five short minutes later...

The front door of Minami’s apartment opened...

Kuro was inside.

Because the fates hated me.

----

As soon as Kuro walked into the apartment, he came to an immediate halt.

He took time to survey the entire area.

Very slowly.

Laundry World.

Book World.

Bag World.

Old World.

There were numerous mountains in Minami’s apartment.

Kuro looked back and forth between Minami and the room.

There was an agonizing silence between them.

Minami was wishing for death.

Again.

"What the hell is happening?" Kuro said.

"What do you mean?"

"The apartment."

"It’s there."

"That’s not what I asked."

Minami crossed her arms defensively.

"Seriously Kuro, it ain’t that bad!"

Then in that very instant, a pile of magazines collapsed.

Clearly the universe disagreed.

Kuro slowly made his way around many obstacles.

Once in the kitchen, the disbelief continued to grow.

"Minami-sensei..."

"Yes?"

"How are you still alive?"

"I don’t think that is an acceptable question."

"It’s a very big deal."

---

Minami was seated on the couch and not on the couch directly behind her

as Kuro searched the apartment like an investigator searching for evidence.

With every second that passed, the apartment’s condition got worse.

Eventually Kuro turned back towards Minami.

"Your mom is stopping by tomorrow?"

"Yes, my mom is coming tomorrow."

"And this is the state of your apartment right now?"

" Yes. My mom is coming to see me tomorrow."

Kuro nodded on two different occasions expressing how hard it was to process that it was real.

A tough thing for Kuro to accept.

---

"I have been cleaning."

Minami protested.

"There isn’t any sign of any cleaning at all."

"I have tried."

"You have not tried to anything."

"What’s all the hostility towards me?"

"Doing some surveillance on you."

At this point Minami buried her head in a pillow and left it there to hide her face.

The embarrassment and humiliation she felt from Kuro seeing her true self was over the top.

At school, and at home, and everywhere else, the image she presented was professional.

Cold.

Competent.

Dependable.

Others respected her and her image.

Everyone at the school and at home had no clue about her true self.

They were never to know about her true self and the truth.

Now that Kuro has seen Minami’s true self, Kuro has destroyed Minami’s image and Kuro now has her entire secret exposed as a result.

Kuro found a tee shirt on the floor.

Then a non padded bra, we think it either is a F cup or G cup that has been recently worn.

Then he found one pair of panties. Awkward both of them .

Then another a tee shirt and a pair of panties.

" How many items of clothing do you have to your name?"

"I don’t know. "

" That’s too many for me to comprehend."

Several minutes later...

Something finally registered for Kuro...

Something out of the ordinary.

Genuine panic.

Not embarrassment.

Not irritation.

Actual panic.

He hesitated.

"You really want the apartment cleaned by tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"Because you have an issue with your mum?"

Minami sighed.

And nodded...

"She worries."

"About this?" Kuro asked unaware of how to respond to her.

"She worries about everything," Minami continued.

Good point.

Kuro was actually impressed.

Impressed.

Just a little.

Minami looked around at the apartment before looking back at Kuro. After looking at Kuro again, a very danger thought came to Kuro.

"No," he told her immediately.

"I didn’t ask anything."

"You were thinking about it."

"It was a thought."

"Same difference."

Minami narrowed her gaze towards Kuro.

"Why do you help everyone else?"

"Because I’m a good boy."

"Whoa. That was a strong argument."

Kuro sighed.

Like a significant other coming to a conclusion they’ve lost.

Because the truth is unmistakable.

Tomorrow will arrive.

Namida Asakura will be coming over tomorrow.

And if the apartment is like this...

It will be disastrous.

Kuro glanced around the apartment one more time.

Laundry.

Books.

Dishes.

Bags.

Chaos.

Then back at Minami.

Minami was normally very composed.

However, she appeared completely defeated.

It seemed odd that Kuro found this amusing and somewhat pitiful.

Finally, Kuro shook his head.

"All right."

Minami blinked .

"Huh?"

"I’ll assist."

Silence .

Then an additional silence.

And one more.

"You are?"

"Of course."

"Are you really?’’

"Don’t get me to reconsider."

Immediately, Minami got up and got out of here .

"Awesome’’

For the first time today, a little bit of legitimate hope showed on her facial features.

Kuro lamented everything already.

The apartment was a wreck.

The cleaning operation has not started yet.

And he envisioned tomorrow being very problematic .

The problem would be significant.

Because, clearly, helping Minami Asakura to get through each day of her existence is now his latest job.

And that was really unfortunate .

The chaos is only getting going now.