Chapter 51: The Exhausted Hayakawa Aki
"That works for me," Otonashi Chiya accepted readily.
"Okay... from now on, I'll call you Otonashi-kun..." Kobeni's voice grew softer and softer, her face flushing an even deeper shade of crimson.
For someone extroverted or even a mild introvert, "Otonashi-kun" is a perfectly normal form of address, carrying a slight hint of respect. But for someone as severely introverted as Kobeni—essentially a case of extreme social anxiety—calling him "Otonashi" or using his full name would actually have been less embarrassing for her.
Watching Kobeni's reaction, Denji's eyes narrowed slightly, as if she had sensed something. She pursed her lips; clearly, Teacher Higashiyama was indeed an "enemy"!
A while later, Kobeni noticed it was already 9:30 PM. She shoulder her backpack, preparing to head home. "Then, I'll be going now."
"Mhm, see you tomorrow," Chiya bid her farewell.
The next morning.
Otonashi Chiya arrived at the Tokyo Public Safety headquarters to clock in half an hour early. Although the higher-ups had granted him paid leave, he still wanted to head out and hunt more devils.
As he sat in the lounge area sipping tea, he soon spotted Hayakawa Aki and Himeno arriving.
"Good morning, Otonashi-kun!" Himeno-senpai was as energetic as ever.
Aki, however, had prominent dark circles under his eyes. He looked as though he hadn't slept a wink, his face etched with fatigue.
"Morning. Say, Aki, what happened to you?" Chiya asked, genuinely curious. He wanted to know what exactly transpired last night to leave Aki in such a state.
"Don't ask..." Aki's voice was filled with weary helplessness.
Last night, he had spent a tremendous amount of effort just to get a lazy, drunken Himeno-senpai off the sofa to shower and go to her bedroom. He had then settled down on the sofa himself. If it had ended there, it would have been fine—but less than half an hour after falling asleep, he was jolted awake. He opened his eyes to find Himeno-senpai sprawled directly on top of him. Naturally, this was unacceptable to him.
The result: he spent the entire night on guard against Himeno-senpai's "night raids" and didn't get any quality sleep at all.
Seeing that Aki didn't want to talk about it, Chiya didn't press further. He could guess that Aki likely hadn't "done" anything, but had been harassed to no end by Himeno.
Himeno, far from looking guilty, let out a loud laugh. "Aki-kun is just too upright! Hahaha—"
"..." Aki felt a surge of annoyance, but he wasn't the type to truly lose his temper. "I'm never going again."
"That won't do. I already gave you my spare keys. Every time I get drunk in the future, I'm counting on you to get me home," Himeno said with a grin.
Aki didn't even have the energy to snap back at her. He sat down on the sofa next to Chiya, his body going limp as he slumped against the cushions. Himeno sat right next to him, still looking like she wanted to tease him.
However, after a few moments, Aki's head began to bob. After a couple of wobbles, he leaned over and fell asleep directly on Himeno's shoulder. It seemed he was truly exhausted to be able to pass out like that.
At this, Himeno stopped joking. She gently and tenderly moved Aki's head down to rest on her lap, her hand slowly stroking his hair. Her eyes were filled with a rare softness. "Sorry, Aki-kun. I really did overdo it last night... but I can't help it; I can't control myself when I'm drunk."
Chiya remained silent, quietly sipping his tea and watching the scene unfold.
Fortunately, there was still half an hour before they needed to head out for patrol, allowing Hayakawa Aki to get a decent bit of rest.
When 9:00 AM rolled around, Himeno still couldn't bring herself to wake him. Otonashi Chiya didn't say anything either. Patrol duty was relatively flexible; as long as you clocked in at the building on time and didn't delay the start for too long, there were rarely any issues. For instance, no one had come over to remind them that it was time to leave yet.
However, a few minutes later, Aki jolted awake—his "biological clock" had kicked in. His first reaction was a flash of panic, thinking he was late. Before he even realized where he was lying, he blurted out, "What time is it?"
"It's fine, it's only a few minutes past nine. If you want to sleep, you can stay down for another half hour," Himeno said, wanting him to get more rest.
It was then, seeing Himeno's face and chin directly above his eyes, that Aki realized his perspective was extremely strange. His eyes widened. He sat up abruptly and looked at Himeno with an indescribable expression. Shock, confusion, complexity, gloom, frustration—every "color" of emotion was present in his gaze.
"Don't look at me like that. You're the one who leaned over and lay on me, Aki-kun," Himeno said with a straight face. To someone who didn't know the truth, it would be impossible to tell she was lying.
"..." Aki rubbed his head. He couldn't for the life of him remember what had just happened; he hadn't even been conscious of the moment he fell asleep. Left with no choice, he had to believe her.
Chiya sat nearby, still saying nothing, merely enjoying the show in silence.
"Sorry, Otonashi. I was careless. Let's get to patrol immediately," Aki said, standing up quickly. He was apologizing for not heading out on time and for making Chiya and Himeno wait for him to wake up.
However, after that half-hour nap, his mental state had improved significantly, and he felt quite energized now.
"It's fine. Let's head out," Chiya said. His face remained expressionless, showing no sign of anger, though he secretly found the situation hilarious.
They walked the streets on their routine patrol. Himeno pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and lit one. She didn't offer any to Chiya or Aki, since they were both still minors.
Even if Chiya were an adult, he had no intention of smoking. He had once tried a cigarette on a whim, but not knowing what he was doing, he inhaled directly into his lungs. The result was disastrous. He had felt dizzy and physically miserable, and from then on, he never wanted to touch tobacco again. He'd even wasted money on that pack, ended up just handing them out to classmates who smoked.
"You know, Aki-kun, you once said you'd never smoke or drink. If you stick to that, it's going to be hard to manage relationships with your colleagues," Himeno remarked casually.
"I don't care. I never intended to focus on social networking anyway," Aki said coldly. "I don't want to waste my thoughts on anything other than the Gun Devil."