Chapter 2: Unlikely Roommates (Part 2)
I don't know why I thought her car wouldn't be yellow.
It makes too much sense especially when my car is purple like my hair as well.
"Hey! Murasa! Are you listening to me?!" Neru snaps her fingers in my face, getting frustrated.
"Sorry, I was busy thinking," I say.
"Seriously? You need to get busy helping me with these damn boxes!" She shouts.
"Well, hand 'em here then!" I say, holding my hands out.
After she puts a massive stack of boxes in my hands, I go over to the luggage cart and start to set them down on it.
"What are you doing?" She questions.
"I'm putting them on the cart so we can move as many boxes as possible," I answer.
"No, the cart is for me. You'll carry that by hand," she explains.
"What?! You expect me to carry this all the way there?! You're insane!" I exclaim.
"Will you suck it up and stop being a baby if I give you a kiss on the cheek?" She asks.
"Hell no!" I answer.
"I accepted your absurd living arrangement but you can't do this one thing for me?" She inquired.
"How about this? I'll just go get another cart and that way we can get your stuff up to the apartment without the physical hassle," I suggest.
"So you're gonna be that guy?" She says.
"Hell's that supposed to mean?" I say.
"Other people need that cart more than you do," she says.
There's no one else moving in aside from us though!
"Y'know what? Fuck it. I'll gladly carry this but if I drop your shit, then it's on you," I say.
"If you drop my shit, I'm gonna kick your ass or maybe even bend you over my knee in this parking lot for everyone to see!" She warns.
"Mmm! Spank me harder, Mommy!" I fake moan, wiggling my butt at her.
"R-Really?! Stop that!" She says, blushing.
"Don't say something that I can turn against you then," I chuckle.
"Whatever! Start hoofin' it," she commands.
Trekking back up to our apartment with a heavy load of her boxes while Neru leisurely uses the cart, I immediately set them down upon stepping through the door.
"Finally," I say, exhausted.
"See? That wasn't so bad," she says, walking past me.
"Coming from the one who had it easy," I say.
Going to the couch, I plop myself down.
Just need to relax a bit.
"Who said you could rest yet? We still need to worry about having proper beds to sleep in," she says.
"It's not getting dark no time soon so relax for a minute," I say.
"I'll relax when we have our beds so c'mon," she says, pulling on my right arm.
"Okaaay," I groan, deciding to budge.
Returning to the parking lot, we hop in my car and drive off.
"My dear listeners. How would you like to hear a song from the popular Hatsune Miku? This one's pretty new," the radio says.
Hell yeah! Miku's my jam!
As the music plays, I tap my finger on the steering wheel to the beat.
"Can we just have silence if you don't mind?" Neru asks, looking up from her phone.
"Not a fan of Miku?" I question, turning the radio off.
"Are you?" She throws my question back at me.
"Ehhh, I dabble from time to time," I say.
That's a lie.
"Interesting," she says.
"So are you gonna answer my question?" I ask.
"It's… complicated," she sighs deeply.
"She's your ex, isn't she?" I inquire.
"W-What?! No way!" She denies, frantically shaking her head with flushed cheeks.
"Was just checking," I laugh.
Reaching the store, we exit the car and walk in.
A young woman wearing a shirt with the store logo on it approaches.
"Hello! My name is Aoi! Anything I can help you two with today?" She questions, giving us a big smile.
"A-Actually, yes! We are looking for a… a… b-b-b…," Neru malfunctions, too embarrassed to finish the sentence.
And here I thought she was over the bunk bed thing by now.
"Please excuse her. She's had a rough day. We're looking for an affordable bunk bed," I say, speaking for Neru.
"Oh, you're in luck then! We got a deal I don't think you can turn down! Please follow me," Aoi says.
"Are you gonna be okay over there?" I ask Neru, slightly worried.
"P-Peachy," she says, shakily giving me a thumbs up.
We follow Aoi, walking into a section filled with a variety of bunk beds.
"Here are our bunk beds that are currently on a super clearance sale but don't let that scare you. These beds are of exceptional quality. We just happened to end up buying far more than we needed so comes a surplus comes low prices. Economics and all that garbo lingo," Aoi giggles.
Something tells me she's screaming internally.
"Are we allowed to examine them?" I question.
"Certainly. Be my guest," she says.
Looking around, I spot a bunk bed that's weirdly purple and yellow like me and Neru.
Feeling compelled to, I sit down on the bottom bunk.
"This one seems really nice and super comfy. Hey Neru. What do you think?" I ask, gesturing for her to come feel it.
Walking over, she touches the mattress.
"It's okay, I guess," Neru says.
"Girl, plant your butt on it to get a better judgment," I say, grabbing her arm and making her sit down beside me.
"Huh, it is really comfy," she agrees, realizing how good it is.
"See? I told you so!" I say.
"Is that the bunk bed you wish to purchase?" Aoi questions.
"Well, that depends on the price," I answer.
"Lucky for you two, that one only costs 10,800 yen," she smiles.
"S-Seriously?!" Neru and I gasp in disbelief.
"Seriously," Aoi affirms.
She wasn't joking about the super clearance sale.
We take a moment to get our composure back.
"But what's the catch?" Neru asks.
"While we will personally deliver the mattresses, you must put the bed frame together yourself. That's the only catch," Aoi states.
"That's it? We can totally do that!" I say.
"We'll gladly take it," Neru says.
"Yes! Finally made a sale today!" Aoi cheers, jumping for joy.
Along with the bunk bed, we buy some blankets and sheets then head back home.
It takes little to no time for our mattresses to show up and thankfully, we didn't have to carry it up to the apartment.
Getting my tools out of one of my boxes, I sit down in our bedroom with the bed frame parts, ready to get to work.
"Neru, can you get me those metal screws over there?" I ask.
"Certainly," she says, handing them to me.
"Appreciate it," I say.
After roughly twenty minutes, I manage to assemble the bed frame together and fit the mattresses into it.
"Voila! It's complete. Are you satisfied now?" I question.
"Very," she says.
"Good," I say.
She awkwardly walks up to me.
"Thanks," she hesitantly kisses my cheek, her face blushing.
"W-What was that for?!" I blush, holding my cheek.
"F-For helping me with my boxes earlier and doing this. That's all. Don't make it weird," she says.
"I-It's no problem. Anyway, it's getting dark outside. Would you like to get something to eat?" I say.
"Well, I mean I'm not exactly hungr-," her stomach grumbles loudly before she can finish much to her visible embarrassment.
"Do you really mean to say yes?" I tease, chuckling.
"Y-Yeah," she admits with flushed cheeks, looking off to the side.
"Alright, let's go! Shall we?" I say excitedly.
I can finally put something in my stomach.
And I know just the place too.