The Beautiful Kuudere Woman Who Always Reads Books While Standing Next to Me at the Laundromat Turns Out to Be the Vice President of One of Our Clients
Late at night, I opened the door to the laundromat. Of course, there was a pile of laundry waiting to be washed, but more than that, I was secretly hoping that Tsukishima san would show up.
Tonight, I was there first. I sat down in my usual seat in the back and flipped through the pages of the novel I had brought with me. But the words didn’t seem to sink in. Listening to the low hum of the washing machine, I found myself unconsciously glancing toward the door again and again.
How much time had passed? Just as I was about to give up and try to focus my attention on the world of the book, it happened.
With a dull ‘whir’ the automatic door opened. Standing there was, as I had hoped, Tsukishima san. But she was clearly different from her usual self. Her footsteps were unsteady and lacked strength.
“Good evening, Tsukishima san.”
When I spoke to her, she slowly turned toward me and raised her hand weakly.
“…Hmm. Hey.”
Her voice was much quieter and hoarser than usual. She seemed reluctant to carry the laundry, so she threw it into the washing machine and then sat down next to me with a thud, like a robot whose batteries had run out.
“Ugh…ah…”
Tsukishima san let out a deep sigh.
“You look really tired…are you okay?”
Her face was clearly showing signs of exhaustion. There were deep dark circles under her eyes.
Her vibrant pink hair seemed to have lost some of its color today.
“…Not good. I’m completely on the verge of shutting down. A new employee accidentally broke the database in the production environment, causing the service to stop. I was busy with recovery work while also coordinating with PR and external announcements…it’s just too much for my brain to handle.”
“I see…you must be exhausted. Your hair looks a little dull.”
“Well, the brightness changes depending on the level of fatigue.”
“Isn’t it saturation?”
“Oh, saturation. Not good.”
Saying that, she leaned back deeply in her chair and let out a big sigh. Her appearance was far removed from the composed “Vice President Tsukishima” seen at the office.
I searched for the right words to say to avoid further amplifying her fatigue.
“After work, you don’t want to think about anything, but doesn’t complete silence make you feel anxious instead?”
I spoke as gently as possible.
“…..I understand. I really understand. That’s why I end up watching videos on YouTube of a fireplace with a fire burning or a river flowing endlessly. Meaningless information actually makes me feel at ease.”
“Haha, me too. In my case, it’s videos of factory conveyor belts. The same products just keep flowing by endlessly. Watching that makes me feel like my own worries don’t matter anymore.”
“…..Minato san, you have some pretty niche hobbies, don’t you? …..I also watch videos of cats kneading bread dough. I think that’s the greatest invention humanity has ever created.”
“Videos of cats kneading bread…?”
This person is completely spouting nonsense.
We exchanged aimless, truly trivial conversations, one after another. I did most of the talking, while Tsukishima san occasionally responded with short phrases. Her voice grew increasingly soft and vague.
“When you’re sleepy, doesn’t it feel like the resolution of the world drops sharply? All the outlines become blurred, the colors fade, and only the trivial things become unusually clear…”
When I said that, she replied in a voice that was almost like a sigh.
“…Yeah…”
“The dream I had yesterday was exactly like that. When I woke up, it felt like a grand sci-fi movie, but when I tried to tell someone about it, I couldn’t remember any of the details…”
“…Yeah…”
I noticed that Tsukishima san’s responses were just monotonous affirmations. But her voice strangely calmed my heart.
As she listened to my words, I could sense that she was slowly unwinding the tension she had been holding onto. So I continued talking to her alone, like a lullaby guiding her into the world of sleep.
“…In the end, the only thing I could remember was a scene where a cat with pink hair was furiously typing on a keyboard inside a spaceship. It was completely nonsensical. Was that really influenced by Tsukishima san…”
Just as I said that,
Suddenly, I felt a soft yet definite weight on my right shoulder.
Looking over, I saw Tsukishima san had rested her head on my shoulder, breathing gently and peacefully.
The weight of her head on my shoulder. The sweet, slightly minty scent of her hair brushing past my nose. The faint yet steady rhythm of her breathing by my ear.
All of it numbed my senses and made my heart race wildly and irregularly like never before.
Should I wake her? But I couldn’t possibly wake her while she was sleeping so peacefully.
But should I stay like this? What kind of face would she make when she woke up? What kind of face should I make?
Various thoughts flashed through my mind like error codes. But my body was frozen, unable to move even a finger.
There was one thing I knew for certain.
Her weight was not unpleasant. On the contrary, it was the opposite. She trusted me enough to expose herself so vulnerably. That fact filled my chest with an indescribable warmth.
I decided to stay still. I would remain like this until she woke up naturally. I would be a quiet wall, protecting her brief moment of rest.
Feeling the weight of Tsukishima san sleeping on my shoulder, I gazed blankly at the slowly rotating drum of the washing machine.
The face of “Vice President Tsukishima” who was more outstanding and stronger than anyone else at the company.
And now, the face of “Tsukishima Shiori” who sleeps peacefully beside me like a child.
That gap is irresistibly charming. I found myself wishing, against my better judgment, that this quiet, peaceful, and slightly heart-wrenching time would last a little longer until she woke up. I listened quietly to her breathing, the gentlest background music in the world.
◆
A few minutes after Tsukishima san fell asleep, the washing machine I had been running alerted me with an alarm that it had finished drying.
Although there was space in the washing machine, I felt restless and fidgety if I didn’t take it out quickly, and it seemed that this physical tension had somehow reached Tsukishima san, as she murmured, “Hmm…”
“Nn…sorry, I fell asleep.”
Tsukishima san leaned against me, still relaxed, and spoke.
“No, I was sleeping too.”
“Fufu…this is a variation of the ‘just arrived’ type.”
“I wonder.”
“Pwuah…..I was sleeping too.”
“Fufu…uh… I can’t get up…just a little longer. Is that okay?”
“Of course, my lady. Oh, Tanaka san is watching from outside.”
Tsukishima san shuddered, got up on her own, and looked around nervously.
“…She’s not here.”
She puffed out her cheeks in a cute way, angry, and leaned against me again, resting her head on my shoulder.
“Tsukishima san, you’ve already gotten up once…”
“Hmm. Should I also unlock the ‘get angry once’ achievement?”
“Eh, I’ll pass…”
“Just a little longer, my pillow. Stay there like a pillow.”
“Then, I’ll put away the laundry first.”
After getting Tsukishima san’s permission with a “Hmm,” I headed to take care of the laundry. I quickly took out my own laundry, packed it into a bag, and returned to the chair.
Tsukishima san leaned against me as if she had been waiting for me.
“Did you wait?”
“No, I just got here.”
Tsukishima san said that and immediately started snoring softly.
Maigetsu