It was a wonderful Saturday night at the Dojima household. All three of them were present at the dinner table, Narukami smiling happily from ear to ear to receive praises from her uncle and cousin over acing a recent test. She never received any recognition for achievements like this at home, so it was a welcome change, and gave her extra incentive to keep her grades up. Disappointing either of them would break her heart.
"I tell all my friends how smart you are!" Nanako said.
"I think Adachi is getting tired of me always bragging about you," Dojima laughed.
Speaking of Adachi… "He hasn't been over to have dinner with us in a while…" Narukami replied; she missed how lively their meals together could get with him around, as well as just simply having him there. "We have a lot of leftovers tonight; can I bring him some?"
"I'm sure he'd appreciate it."
The large amount of food left over was her fault. Narukami had become skilled enough to make a tasty meal for her family, but she still sometimes had trouble making correct portion sizes. At least this gave her an excuse to go see Adachi; he'd been so busy lately she'd only been able to exchange quick pleasantries with him at Junes. Maybe he'd invite her in to chat; she was curious what the inside of his house looked like.
With care Narukami packed a generous amount for Adachi and set off. It had been a nice, quiet evening, but as she neared his place the wind picked up and gradually got so fierce she needed to hold down her skirt during a particularly strong gust. Not only that, but it had suddenly started to get dark much too soon, sprinkles of rain hitting her face when Narukami looked up.
The weather report had said it might be cloudy but nothing about rain, much less a bad storm, which was obviously in the works. A few more minutes and she'd reach Adachi's place, so Narukami ran the rest of the way, just as lightening flashed across the sky and the rain came pouring down.
Adachi was waiting for Narukami when she arrived, opening the door for her immediately with his phone in the other hand. Once it became evident the weather was taking a sudden turn for the worse a concerned Dojima had phoned Adachi, wanting him to stay on the line as he kept a lookout for his niece.
While Adachi finished speaking with with Dojima, Narukami took off her shoes and then re-adjusted her clothes with her free hand. She hadn't gotten too wet for the water to soak her uniform to her skin, but her small frame had been battered by the wind, jumbling her outfit so bad she almost expected her top to be on backwards. She touched her braids and felt that they were coming undone, hoping she didn't look like too much of a mess.
After ending the call Adachi sighed. "You really couldn't have turned back?" Instead of welcoming her, he was annoyed; babysitting Dojima's niece was the last thing he wanted to do. "You can't walk in this, and I'm not driving in it, so that means you're stuck here."
Narukami couldn't keep eye contact with Adachi looking so displeased with her, apologizing as she looked down at the ground. "Please don't be angry; I'll go back home! I'm sure if I run-"
"No! If you get hurt do you have any idea what Dojima-san will do to me?" That meant much more to Adachi than her safety. His boss's packed enough of a wallop when he was just annoyed with him; Dojima would probably knock him out if any harm would come to Narukami under his care.
"But I don't have my…" She trailed off, then quickly changing the subject. "W-well, here…" She timidly held out the leftovers she'd brought.
"This was really all you came here for?" Adachi asked as he took it from her.
"Yes… Dojima-san and Nanako-chan really liked it. You haven't been over for dinner for a while and I was wondering how you'd been eating lately…" She glanced back up and raised her head when she saw his expression wasn't as harsh. She'd worried about his meal habits ever since he admitted to her he tended to be too tired to cook anything after work and cost was a factor as well.
"I was going to watch a little TV and go to bed, and Dojima-san said he'd pick you up tomorrow, so I guess this won't be so bad."
While Adachi went to place in the food in the refrigerator Narukami took the opportunity to take a look around. Adachi's house looked so barren with only the essentials; no decorations, knickknacks, or anything that showed his personality. With nothing to really look at, Narukami just sat on the couch and waited for Adachi. It seemed that he spent the time he was at home mostly watching TV since it was a fairly expensive model and the only thing she could see that wasn't in shabby shape. Even the sofa she sat on sagged and had a few stains and tears. Had he gotten it used?
Adachi soon joined her with a beer in his hand. "Do you want anything? I don't really have much to offer…"
"I'll be fine! Please, forget I'm here! I'm the one imposing!"
Adachi switched on the TV, glad that Narukami wouldn't be a nuisance. He turned the channel to one of his favorite programs that detailed real life crime stories. Tonight's seemed like it would be especially gruesome, telling the story of a school girl who was held captive for over a month and tortured before finally being murdered.
This sort of thing didn't bother Adachi; he'd just recently seen a corpse himself, after all, and only got an upset stomach over it. The storm along with this show was a bad combination for Narukami, who stared wide-eyed at the screen, a feeling of complete dread coming over her.
Adachi was too absorbed in the program to notice how pale Narukami had become from her terror, trembling while he calmly took drinks of his beer. As the show continued and became more and more disturbing and graphic, Narukami starting inching closer and closer to Adachi for comfort until she was right against him.
"Huh?" Startled by the contact, Adachi looked to the side to see Narukami clutching his sleeve, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she shook. "Oh! I guess this is pretty scary since you're around her age… This is why I keep telling you not to wander around at night, you know…"
"I-is it almost o- Eeeek!" There was a loud crack of thunder, making Narukami jump and reflexively grab Adachi's hand.
Adachi just stared for a moment. Her hand was so small compared to his and her nails were neatly painted white with little cat faces on them. He smirked a bit at this; she acted like such a little kid when it came to animals. He'd caught her near Samegawa one day with one cat in her arms, one on her shoulders, and another rubbing her legs while she smiled in complete bliss.
It was quite a contrast to how she was now. Adachi's face twisted as he held back laughter; was this really the girl who'd been appointed "leader" by her friends, had been diving into the TV at Junes to save people, and fighting vicious Shadows? How on earth did she manage that when she can't even sit through a show?
"Hey, it's alright." Adachi composed himself, gently grabbed Narukami's wrist, and pulled her hand away before switching off the TV. There were only a few minutes left and he was already familiar with such a famous case anyway.
This didn't bring an ounce of comfort to Narukami. The images she'd seen wouldn't leave her head. That poor girl had suffered so much, no one would help her, and in the end she was killed. It seemed too horrible to be real; how could people really-
She nearly jumped upon hearing her name. Narukami hadn't even noticed Adachi had gotten up and returned with a deck of playing cards in his hand. He wasn't up for anything too complicated, but the simple tricks he'd learned as a kid were enough to make Narukami happy, especially when he went through how to do a few so she could show Nanako.
Adachi yawned and stretch. "I think it's time for bed. I'll get you a blanket."
"Adachi-san, could I borrow one of your shirts?"
"Hm?"
"For pajamas."
"Your clothes did get damp." Her hand had even been chilly when she touched him. "I'll find you one."
Narukami followed Adachi to his bedroom, once again finding a densely furnished room. The bed was neatly made and next to it was a nightstand that had a lamp and an alarm clock. She'd noticed Adachi didn't seem to have any photos of family or friends anywhere, which made her a bit sad, but then an idea stuck her. Maybe he'd like a picture of herself, Dojima, and Nanako? There was a nice space left on the nightstand where one could fit.
Next she then saw the little trash can that was close to the bed and seemed to be filled with mostly tissues. "Did you have a cold recently, Adachi-san?"
Adachi looked back from his closet. "What?"
"The trash can…"
Adachi's cheeks went slightly pink. There were certainly fluids in those tissues, but not the kind she was thinking of. "R-right…" he really should have emptied that a while ago. "It wasn't anything serious." He quickly grabbed one of his white work shirts and handed it to her. "Go ahead and change here."
Adachi quickly left the room, shutting the door behind him. He remembered he'd left a dirty magazine in the bathroom and wanted to hide it before Narukami saw and questioned him about that as well. He was eager to get some sleep, thinking he was tired enough that the storm wouldn't bother him.
After grabbing the magazine Adachi opened the hall closet, tossing it in before grabbing a spare blanket off the top shelf. It was old and torn in a few places, but it would do fine for one night.
Narukami had finished changing and was standing outside of his room when Adachi returned, holding her uniform in her hands. He froze and stared, his mouth hanging open slightly. Despite being in high school, Adachi had thought of her as more like a child due her young looking face and being somewhat naïve. Seeing her with her hair down and in his shirt that she wasn't able to all the way button on top to fit her chest in made him realize she was nearly an adult with a very nice figure. How did she manage to stuff so much cleavage into her uniform? She'd never looked this stacked before.
Narukami noticed his gaze locked on her, puzzled for only a moment before grinning. "I look a bit silly, don't I? You're so much taller than me, Adachi-san!" She moved her uniform under her left arm and held out her right, the sleeve drooping down far past her hand to further demonstrate how much extra room there was.
"Yeah…" One thing was for sure; Adachi would be adding a few more tissues to the garbage tonight. He handed Narukami the blanket, finally tearing his eyes away from her. "Well… Goodnight," he managed to say with a smile.
Narukami responded with a cheerful smile of her own. "Good night, Adachi-san!"
That smile soon vanished as she lingered outside of his door, all alone. She barely managed when he was with her, but now she'd have to walk back to living room by herself and shut off the light. She had a nightlight in her room at the Dojima household, so the last thing she wanted was total darkness. In the end Narukami decided to turn on the TV, switching it to a channel that didn't have such disturbing programs, and muted it. The gentle glow would be enough to soothe her in the dark, and the Midnight Channel shouldn't play since the set wasn't off. One of her friends was surely watching, so they'd alert her if anyone turned up on it.
Narukami laid down on the couch and draped the blanket over her, her nose scrunching up from the musty smell. Outside the storm was raging, getting her full attention since there was no longer anything else to distract her. The howling wind made the rain batter the windows loudly, the thunder was rumbling, and lightening frequently lit up the room for moments.
She pulled the blanket over her head, certain whenever the bursts of light occurred that she could see something lurking in the corner. It had been years since she'd slept without a teddy bear; she'd even brought it along on the camping trip. Thankfully her friends were too kind to tease her about it and Kanji even fixed some of its many blemishes from age and wear the best he could the following week.
Spending that night in a tent with three other people was a bit cramped, but a fond memory that she tried to focus on instead of her fears. She'd ended up sleeping between Yosuke and Chie after Kanji's sudden invasion of their tent had driven them to his. Narukami still wasn't sure why Chie had threatened to sock Yosuke if he tried anything funny. His face was a bit red but, other than that, he'd just made sure she was comfortable before they all dozed off.
It wasn't enough to keep her fears in check. She couldn't forget the fact she was sleeping in a much wider, open space, on the first floor. If anything came in that night she was close to the door; it would spot her on the couch soon for sure. Her mind couldn't help but remind her of the show Adachi had on and she shivered under the covers again as she imagined herself in a similar scenario.
What if the serial killer in her own town found out she was helping to spoil his latest attempts and came after her for revenge? What sorts of horrible things would he do? She pulled the pillow out from under her head and tried to imagine it was her teddy bear, but the scratchy material instead of fluff against her face broke that illusion.
Narukami reminded herself that she was seventeen and needed to grow out of her night terrors. If she could get through this, surely she could start sleeping like an adult in complete darkness and without the need of a stuffed toy. Her parents ridiculed her enough for it.
Her friends may have known about the bear, but they clueless as how much of a scaredy cat she could be; since being made their leader Narukami did her best to hide it. In the TV World her Wild Card ability to switch Personas helped give her a confidence boost that made her feel like she couldn't be defeated, plus having their own sentient, life sized teddy bear had greatly helped. Any time she started feeling fearful in a dungeon Teddie had been more than happy to let her pet his soft fur.
Even with all these fears fatigue eventually won and Narukami was at last asleep, cocooned within the blanket she held tightly around her. Her mind was still very much aware of how Narukami was feeling, not taking long at all to brew up a nightmare of her being chased by an assailant and thrown into a pit where he then began to bury her alive.
Narukami's eyes shot open. She was violently shaking, beads of sweat rolling down her face. She quickly wiped the salt out of her eyes, feeling sick as her heart pounded like a drum in her chest. It couldn't be even close to dawn yet, but there was no way she could stay here. She was frightened out of her wits, beginning to hallucinate further when she was certain she could hear footsteps. She called out Adachi's name to see if he was up, but there was no answer.
Adachi… She'd felt safe close to him, but it would be unfair to wake him up… A possible solution came to mind: Maybe if she silently entered his room and just slept on the floor by his bed she could calm down enough to sleep, and then sneak out before he awoke, similar to how she, Chie, and Yukiko had avoided King Moron's wrath.
Narukami kept the blanket wrapped around her as she sat up. She turned the TV off, using the lightening as a guide as well as keeping a hand out to feel her way to Adachi's room. It seemed much further away than it had previously, but at last she made it.
The door opened quietly and she slowly shut it behind her after entering. Narukami made her way to the side of Adachi's bed and waited for the next strike of lightening to see his face, which looked quite content despite what was going on outside. His breathing was heavy, so she was certain he was in a deep sleep. She noticed his left arm was extended and imagined how comfy she'd feel underneath it, but then quickly shook her head; wouldn't sneaking into bed with him be taking it much too far…?
A tree branch scraping against the window, which she was postive was something trying to claw its way inside, made the decision for her. Before Narukami realized what she was doing she was under the covers, lifting Adachi's arm over her. Already she felt secure and warm, but then had to bite her lips in order to muffle her surprise at realizing she was next to bare flesh; Adachi was slumbering in only his boxers.
Narukami swallowed hard, but still moved in closer so she was under his chin. She couldn't see anything, and would avoid lying directly against him, so she could justify staying here. It would be just like when Nanako had nightmares and asked to sleep next to her for the rest of the night. If she just laid still and kept quiet Adachi wouldn't even notice she was there.
What Narukami didn't know was that Adachi had a tendency to move in his sleep. After stirring slightly nearly an hour later he wound up with his face in her hair, the touch and pleasant smell making his eyes open slightly as he awoke drowsily. He wasn't sure just what had roused him at first, but then he fully came to senses when he slowly realized there was someone next to him.
The wind was still strong but the storm had calmed down, clouds no longer completely blocking the sky, so he was able to look down and see Narukami's peaceful face. Lying next to him truly had a calming effect on her so she was able to shut her eyes without the worry of something in her environment causing her harm.
Adachi was dumbstruck; what the hell was she thinking?! Narukami had been getting a bit friendly with him lately, but he hadn't imagined it would go past attempting to straighten his crooked tie when she saw him. Tonight she'd been so clingy, but even if it was out of fear, this was too much.
"Hey!" Adachi hissed, frustrated that after finally finding a girl willing to get into his bed he couldn't do anything with her. Since he realized Narukami had such a nice body the temptation of trying something was too great to not kick her out; her uncle knew she was here, so he couldn't just dispose of her if she woke up to him molesting her and panicked. "Wake up!" He gave her shoulder a rough nudge.
Finally she opened her eyes. "Adachi-san…?" she slurred.
"Get out of here right now!" he barked.
"Please, Adachi-san!" Narukami was desperate. "It's so scary in your living room and I don't even have my teddy bear!" It was embarrassing to finally admit, but she hoped explaining herself would cause Adachi to let her stay. "I keep thinking about the killer and I know that you wouldn't let anything bad happen to me, right?"
It took every ounce of control for Adachi to keep a straight face, not answering right away to make sure he could keep laughter out of his voice. Narukami was even more amusing tonight than she usually was. "No one would come out in a storm like this… You sleep with a stuffed animal?"
"Y-Yes… Please don't laugh!"
"Then start listening to me and stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. I get you're upset because someone from your school was killed, but just let the police handle it. Like I said earlier, don't keep going out at night either. I know Dojima-san thinks you're working, and I won't say anything, but…"
"Sometimes you're only around at night. You're too busy during the day, so I can't talk with you, and it's nice when you come spend time with Nanako and me."
"R-really…?" Come to think of it, she always did bound right over to him if she caught him in the Shopping District.
"Yes! So please don't make me go!"
Adachi was quiet for a few moments, mulling his decision over. "You can't tell anyone about this. Dojima-san would kill me…"
"I swear!"
Since she had his permission this time, Narukami thought it would be alright to snuggle up close. Adachi froze to feel her small, soft body press against his. He thought he could maybe find some enjoyment out of this for a brief moment, but now it was just plain unfair, her breasts pushed directly against his chest. All this was going straight to his groin and he knew Narukami would notice if he got too excited.
"This is really nice… My mom and dad wouldn't even let me sleep with them when I got scared as a kid."
That did it. Nothing was quite as effective as making sure he'd stay soft than being compared to her parents.
"I'm not that old, you know!"
"Oh, I didn't mean… Sorry… I'm just glad."
Adachi sighed, then realizing he wasn't sure what to with his hand that he'd moved to his side. It was uncomfortable there, but should he really…? He slowly reached out and started to curl his arm around Narukami, but then thought better of it. It wasn't like he'd be able to get much sleep with her there, so having his arm in an awkward feeling position wasn't a big deal.
"You can hold me," Narukami assured when she felt Adachi pull back.
He was in it this deep, so why not? Adachi finished the motion, his hand on Narukami's lower back. He thought about waiting for her to fall asleep and moving it down to her ass, but he kept reminding himself it would be unwise to push his luck. It had been so long… Even if he wasn't able to fuck her Adachi could just enjoy not being alone at night for the longest time. It was such a nice to change to actually have a girl want to be with him like this instead looking at him with disgust, shouting, and even hitting him. It was too bad that that she was only a second year in high school and his boss's niece.
Adachi had always been disappointed that a Shadow had never come out of Narukami, but now he understood why: She was just too innocent. He thought there had to be some deep, dark, repressed feelings inside of her that were longing to get out, but she seemed to always be open about things that were troubling her and was too kind of a girl to have any malice in her.
"I really am sorry for being such a pain," Narukami said sincerely, breaking Adachi's thoughts. "Be honest… Are you mad?"
"I would be if I worked tomorrow. Let's just try and get some sleep now."
She apologized again. "I'll be quiet."
Narukami was easily able to drift off again, but Adachi stayed awake a bit longer to savor the moment. She was warm, soft, and fit next to him in bed so nicely. He almost resented how good it felt; if he ever managed to charm a woman enough again to get her into bed he doubted she could ever match this.
The next morning Narukami turned completely to red to find that during the night Adachi had ended up nearly on top of her. She shuddered when she felt a damp spot where he'd drooled, wriggling her way out of his grasp.
Adachi didn't even stir, so she shut off his alarm to let him have more sleep. To make sure he wouldn't be upset, and to attempt to make up for his hospitality, Narukami set to work on seeing if there was anything she could do around his house after dressing. It was still early, so her uncle probably wouldn't be arriving for a while yet.
There were some clothes in the hamper, so Narukami started a load of laundry, tossing in the shirt she'd worn as well, not knowing Adachi had planned to keep that shirt unwashed as long as her scent remained on it.
She grabbed the blanket she'd left outside Adachi's room after getting up and figured out where he must have fetched it from. She opened the closet door and was barely able to put it back on the top shelf by standing on her tiptoes. Narukami was about to close it when she noticed a magazine carelessly tossed in. It looked in pretty rough shape, so she was pretty sure it must be trash, but she froze upon seeing the cover of a woman in a see-through nightie. She didn't have a bra on and she was beginning to pull down her panties.
Against her better judgment Narukami flipped through the magazine. What brought her attention away from the photos was how the pages were sticking to her fingers, slightly tearing one while trying to free herself. This was one of Adachi's hardcore porn magazines, the women inside leaving nothing to the viewer's imagination. When one was using a toy on herself Narukami flung the magazine back into the closet and quickly shut the door. Did all guys look at stuff like this? Maybe Adachi would tell her if she asked.
Instead of going to wash her hands Narukami remembered the trash in Adachi's room. She gathered what was in the kitchen and went to grab the rest, stealthily making her way back in. Adachi had turned over, but he was still out, so she quickly went about dumping the tissues into the garbage bag. Some stuck firmly to the sides of the waste basket, so she had to give it a few hard shakes to free them, gingerly grabbing a stubborn one with her finger tips and throwing it in.
Narukami continued on with a few more chores before deciding she really should be waking Adachi up. There hadn't been a whole lot in his refrigerator, but she could at least make some toast and eggs once he told her how he wanted them. She was just going back to his room when she met Adachi in the hallways. He still looked like he was trying to wake up, his eyes barely halfway open.
"Good morning, Adachi-san!"
So it hadn't been just an odd dream. Adachi had almost thought the entire thing was all in his head when he'd initially got up. "You must have woken up early."
She nodded. "Yup! I did a few chores for you as well! I was going to cook breakfast next; how do you like your eggs?"
"Scrambled," Adachi answered as he followed her to the kitchen, then sitting down at the table as he yawned. He'd probably need a nap later; having to deal with Narukami really took a lot out of him, his dreams not helping either.
"Adachi-san…" Narukami had been opening the fridge, but shut it and turned to look at him. "Umm… I saw a magazine in the closet…" This got his attention right away, horrified at the thought of what would be coming out of her mouth next. "Are those… Are those the kinds of women you like?"
Adachi noticed the hint of sadness in her voice, his brow furrowing slightly. "That's just for…" He shook his head; he didn't need to explain anything to her. "Why do you care?" he snapped.
"O-oh…" She faltered, needing to swallow a lump in her throat. "W-well… Remember when I asked if you had anyone to cook for you? You ended up mentioning you'd want a girl who was good at it, and being cute would nice, but you preferred the "knockouts"… I wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but if it's those women…" She laughed sheepishly. "Never mind!"
"No, finish what you want to say." Adachi stood up and advanced on Narukami, stopping directly in front of her. He wasn't going to let her change the subject.
"W-Well… Am I… A… "Knockout"? She asked meekly.
The corner of Adachi's mouth curled into a smile. He thought this was what she was getting at, but wanted Narukami to say it herself. Still, she was looking like a frightened animal, so he did his best to put back on a friendly face to avoid making her bolt. "Do you want me to think that?"
Narukami blushed and nodded. "T-this morning, w-well… When I was tidying up your house I sort of felt like your girlfriend, and it made me happy…"
"Why do you like me so much?" This was too fun… It was great to turn the tables on her after she'd been such a little cock tease to him during the night. He could tell it was getting harder and harder for her to answer.
"Around other people… I feel like I always have to tell them what they want to hear, even if it's not what I really think. With you, I've always been myself, and you don't mind if I have negative thoughts since it doesn't fit with someone who looks like me. I've appreciated how much you've shared with me about yourself as well and never sugarcoating anything. Back in the city, I was made fun of for being a "teacher's pet" and boys only started being nice to me when my body changed, so I didn't have any close friends. You're right… It was easier being alone; it freaks me out having to meet so many peoples' expectations, but I don't want you to be lonely. I'd like to be someone who can keep you company and…" She struggled, but forced herself to continue. "I've always liked older guys… If it's not too creepy for you-"
Adachi reached out his hand and placed it on the side of Narukami's face. She sighed softly, but otherwise did nothing, so he traced her lips with his thumb, making her speak up again.
"B-but it wouldn't be fair to you… I don't have any experience with guys, so…"
"Then I'll have to teach you. I'll make you my 'Girlfriend in Training'."
"You really don't mind?" Narukami was shocked as well as ecstatic; Adachi was really going to be her boyfriend?!
Now being rejected by those other two sluts didn't feel as bad. Yamano was beginning to show her age, plus she was shameless enough to mess around with a married man. Konishi was much younger and prettier, but when he was pretending to investigate her murder many of the high school students he'd interviewed guessed it could have been one of the many guys she'd toyed with. If he'd stuck his dick into such a trashy whore he probably would have ended up with an STD.
He'd have to be careful with someone as pure as Narukami, but he didn't mind the challenge. It would be interesting to see just how much he could coax her into as time went on, determined to have her bedded before she left back home for the city. Maybe he'd keep in contact with her, or if he was bored with her it would be easy to avoid speaking with her again. If she ever returned to Inaba he hoped he'd be long gone, preferably transferred overseas.
"Not if you're willing to learn."
"I am!" Narukami replied eagerly.
"Lesson one…" Adachi seize Narukami's jaw and held it as he leaned down to kiss her. She was so short it would put strain on his neck, so he effortlessly lifted her up onto the kitchen counter to have better access. She was blushing, and seemed a bit nervous, but her body language didn't indicate she wanted him to stop. "Open your mouth a little."
Narukami obeyed and he kissed her again, his tongue darting into her mouth. He growled into her when she just sat there, prompting her to try and mimic his actions with her tongue. She was a bit sloppy, but that could be worked on. Adachi moved over to her cheek and kissed down her neck, his right hand on her knee. Suddenly he slid it up Narukami's skirt, his fingertips touching her panties, making her body jolt.
"It's OK!" Adachi stopped at once, taking a step back with his hands held up. Now Narukami was getting scared, her body trembling. "I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry."
"N-no, I-" Her cellphone rang, Narukami knowing it would be uncle, so she answered it immediately. After a brief conversation she hung up and looked back at Adachi. "Dojima-san will be leaving in a few minutes to pick me up…"
Adachi took out his phone. "We should exchange numbers now; that way I can let you know when you can come over." He smiled as they swapped information. "This is much better than hoping you'll bump into me, right?"
"You're sure?" Narukami was afraid she'd already disappointed him.
"Of course! Just keep this our secret and you'll be able to spend a lot more time alone with me."
"I promise!"
"One more thing…" Adachi's tone sounded threatening as his expression became much more serious. "You might just be in training, but consider this a serious relationship. I don't want to see you flirting with other guys. I get that you have some close male friends, but try not to let them touch you too much. Understand?"
Narukami nodded, so Adachi gave her a long kiss.
"Good girl." Adachi then sighed. "Dojima-san will be here soon, so let's just have breakfast." He helped her down off the counter. "You're much better looking than woman I've seen in a magazine, so don't worry about that anymore." He stroked Narukami's hair when she hugged him.
Narukami was just finishing the dishes when Dojima arrived, Adachi letting him in.
"You look like hell," Dojima said, noticing bags under Adachi's eyes. He looked at Narukami when she entered the living room, noticing her face had an unusual pink tint to it. "What happened with you two?"
"W-well…" Adachi stammered. "Did you know your niece is terrified of storms? She didn't let me get much sleep last night and she's still embarrassed about it."
"Adachi-san!" Narukami cried, her response enough confirmation to Dojima that what Adachi said was the whole story.
"I'm sorry for the trouble," Dojima replied.
"That's alright." Adachi laughed, placing a hand on Narukami's shoulder. "Just don't make this habit."
"I won't!" Narukami felt bad for deceiving Dojima, but knew they couldn't let him even suspect for even a moment they were interested in one another. "I'm really sorry, but thank you for being so nice to me!"
They said their goodbyes, Narukami following Dojima to the car and getting in the passenger's seat.
"Dojima-san?" They were nearly home, the car ride silent, until she spoke up. "Umm… You know how, because you're so busy working, Nanako and I do our best to take care of the house?"
"Yeah?"
"Well… Adachi-san doesn't have anyone like that. I noticed he could use a little help, so would it be OK if I went over sometimes just to maybe clean or cook a few meals for him? I think that would really help."
"That's nice of you, but he's just lazy. He'd take advantage of that and just sit on his couch all day while you did everything for him."
"Oh… But… Maybe just once awhile? I feel really bad for being so annoying last night…"
"If it means that much to you… I'll ask him first, but don't take it personally if he says no."
"Thank you!"
Narukami was so pleased with herself, hoping Adachi would praise her for the idea as well. This should open up even more opportunities for the two of them to see each other. She fully intended to assist Adachi with anything he needed, but hoped they'd spend most of the time cuddling on his couch. He was so intense when he kissed her, so she'd have to figure out how to match that.
She daydreamed the rest of the ride home of what was yet to come as she got even closer to Adachi.
It wasn't long after Dojima and Narukami had left that Adachi was yawning again, ready to go back to sleep, when his phone buzzed. He checked it and saw Narukami had already sent him a text message. He scowled, worried that she would be bugging him all day now, but then saw there was a photo along with it.
Adachi-san! I decided to try on more of your outfit! I forgot to show you before I left!
Adachi looked at the attachment to find she'd put on his suit jacket and tie, winking at the camera. For some reason this struck him as even sexier than any pinup he'd seen, his body aching to have her close again. He made sure to reply back telling her how cute she looked, urging her to send more pictures of herself any time before he laid back on the couch.
Dating the girl who was trying so hard to figure out who was responsible for so many people ending up inside the TV… This was going to add even more entertainment to his game. Adachi would never be found out, he was sure of that, but being able to mess with his pursuers still allowed him to participate. He shut his eyes, guilt free without a care in the world before he started regaining the sleep he'd lost last night.