"Wahhh, I had to give up Sloth-chan," Maki cried quietly, poking her nail polish bottle with her fingertip.
Hinawa sighed again. Ever since they had finished eating, Maki had been sulking over the sloth she saw in the shop window. He felt somewhat guilty about it but he didn't know his plan to buy it would backfire so spectacularly.
"I'll be back," he said, standing up from his seat at the kotatsu.
"Wait, where are you going?" Maki asked, standing up. She had a hoodie on over her pajama shirt, and her fingernails were a pastel pink.
"I'll be back soon. You can sleep in the bed," Hinawa told her. He shut the door behind him.
"Huh?!"
Maki sat back down and reached for her bottle of nail polish. She began brushing the liquid over each of her toenails, thinking about the lieutenant as she did so.
He didn't complain about the smell of the polish , she thought. He's putting up with me very well.
She hesitated over one of her toes too long and gasped when a drop of the pale pink liquid fell on the wood floor. She immediately grabbed a bowl of sugar off of the kotatsu and used the spoon inside to sprinkle some over the nail polish.
Beauty hack 101! she thought. But where did the lieutenant go?
"What the hell am I doing?" Hinawa said to himself as he walked quickly down the sidewalk. He wanted to hurry back to the shop Maki had seen the sloth in before they closed for the night. He hadn't even put his coat on before he left.
He was so lost in thought he nearly passed up the shop. He stopped and stared at the stuffed sloth still in the window. He had to admit that the sloth was cute — but he almost choked when he saw the price tag.
It's a thank you gift for coming with me, he thought as he pushed open the door to the shop. It's a thank you gift for coming with me.
"We're closing in ten minutes," the clerk said lazily.
"I just — I want to buy the sloth in the window," Hinawa said. "For a friend."
"You want to buy the super-rare Sloth-chan?"
"Yes. My friend is pretty much giving me a guilt trip over not letting her buy it earlier."
"Sloth-chan is not an it, she's a she," the clerk said. "And she's also pretty pricey."
"I know." Maki is so going to owe me for this.
Hinawa pulled out his wallet as the clerk went to get the stuffed sloth out of the window. He would never spend so much on any other person in his life. But then, Maki was different. She was probably the closest thing he had to a friend.
As the clerk rang up Sloth-chan he realized that Maki might take him buying her the stupid sloth the wrong way and opened his mouth.
"That'll be 5,200 yen," the clerk said.
"Uh-sure." Hinawa forked over the money and groaned as he was given a large, pink bag with Sloth-chan inside. "Don't you have any bags that are less conspicuous?"
"Nope, sorry."
He sighed. He held the bag close to him as he made to leave the store. As he pushed the door open, a gust of cold air hit him, taking his breath away.
"Shit!" he exclaimed. He wished he had worn his coat. He could feel his body shivering violently. He hurried back to the inn and dashed inside.
"Nice bag," the innkeeper's son called out to him.
"It's a gift," Hinawa called back.
He hurried up the stairs — he eagerly awaited to use the kotatsu in their room to warm up before going to sleep.
He knocked on the door, his hand on the doorknob.
"Maki? It's me," he said.
"You can come in," he heard her call out.
He opened the door and saw Maki scrubbing at a spot on the floor. He placed the pink bag on the bed and walked over to the kotatsu and sat down.
"Maki what are you doing?"
"I'm cleaning up the nail polish I spilled."
"Don't worry about it, many others have spilled nail polish on the floor and never bothered to clean it up."
Maki harrumphed. The spot on the floor was smudged with sugar and nail polish, but she had gotten almost all of the polish up. She put a strand of hair behind her ear as she leaned up and stretched.
"Lieutenant, I'm finished. Do you want to — "
Maki sighed when she saw the lieutenant dozing, his glasses on the tip of his nose. She leaned over and tried to adjust his glasses without waking him.
"Maki," he mumbled.
"W-What?"
She felt her heart pound in her chest as he shifted in his sleep. She took his glasses off and folded them on top of the kotatsu table. She stood up and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
What was that? she wondered, her hand on her chest. Is he dreaming about me?
"Huh?"
Hinawa's eyes fluttered open. He blinked a few times before realizing someone — and he had a good idea who — had removed his glasses. He looked down and saw that they were on top of the table, and put them back on.
"Lieutenant! I thought you were asleep," Maki said nervously as she came out of the bathroom.
"No. I have to pee."
He brushed past her as he walked into the bathroom, his footsteps unsteady. He shut the door behind him and locked it.
At least he's insuring his privacy, Maki thought. She bent down to unplug the kotatsu and felt her face burn.
She could hear him.
C-Can he hear me when I pee? Even at the cathedral? This is so embarrassing.
As the water ran in the bathroom, she came to a heart-shattering realization. If they could hear each other pee… then they could hear each other poop, too.
Maki climbed into bed, her back to the bathroom. She huddled under the covers as Hinawa walked out of the bathroom and around to his side of the bed.
"You didn't even move the bag?" he asked.
"Bag?"
She leaned up and noticed the bright pink bag on the bed. Hinawa placed it beside her as he began making a place to sleep for himself.
"It's for you," he told her.
"Sleep in the bed," she told him.
"I'm fine."
Maki sighed as she reached inside the pink bag. She knew what was inside even before she pulled it out.
"Sloth-chan!" she squealed, hugging the stuffed sloth tightly.
Hinawa smiled, his back to her. He put his hand on his chest — he hadn't expected to spend so much on a stuffed animal for someone before tonight.
"Lieutenant," Maki said softly. "Please get in the bed. You'll catch a cold."
Hinawa sat up and stared over at her in the bed. She was tracing circles in Sloth-chan's fur with her finger, a silly grin on her face.
"Why did you buy it?" Maki asked him.
"To thank you for coming with me," he told her.
"You couldn't have just said thank you?"
"I thought that if I bought you the sloth it'd be more meaningful."
Hinawa looked away from her, blushing. He could always take the sloth back and get his money back.
"It really means a lot, thank you," Maki said, her smile soft.
Hinawa stood and crawled into bed, his back to Maki. He wasn't going to risk facing her — he wasn't fully in control of his body and was afraid of what he'd do.
Maki looked over at the lieutenant's hunched figure. She set her sloth back in the shop bag and put it beside the bed. She pulled the covers up to her chin and sighed — it had been an eventful day.