Chapter 6 A Kind Jirai-kei Woman

A Kind Jirai-kei Woman

“Well, now we can talk here!”

The place she took me to was the rooftop of the company.

I usually come here during breaks or lunch, but this is the first time I’ve been here at this time.

Mishi-san stretched and turned her face to me.

“Ucchi, what happened? Tell me.”

“N-no… Nothing happened.”

“You don’t look like nothing happened.”

Even though I tried to laugh it off, Mishi-san glared at me sharply and approached me briskly.

Then she cupped my cheeks with her palms, bringing her face closer.

“W-wait, Mishi-san!?”

Mishi-san’s beautiful features were so close that my heart was pounding.

I’m not used to having a woman’s face so close, except for Rina’s. I want to look away, but for some reason, I can’t.

Maybe it’s because of Mishi-san’s staring eyes.

“Just tell me? If you make such a terrible face, Ucchi, I’ll be sad too.”

“Terrible… face?”

“Can’t you tell? Just a moment.”

Letting go of me, Mishi-san took a small makeup compact out of her pocket and opened it.

“Here, look at this.”

She showed me a pale, haggard face reflected in the mirror.

Wait a minute… This is strange… I don’t think my face was this bad when I looked in the mirror this morning….

Maybe I’ve gotten so used to seeing my bad face that I’ve come to think of it as normal?

“Do you understand? You’ve been looking really bad lately like you have no energy, but today is even worse. You look like you’re dying….”

…I didn’t notice.

When did I start making this face?

I was trying to be cheerful so as not to worry anyone, and I thought everyone was treating me normally, but maybe they were just being considerate? I feel kind of sorry.

“It hurts to see you trying so hard to be happy. If something is bothering you, can you tell me? I can help.”

“Uh-uh….”

Mishi-san’s reassuring smile caused my dam of emotions to break, and I cried uncontrollably.

Hana-chan was kind to me too, but I felt a different kind of kindness from her. Damn, I’m pathetic.

“W-w-what!? W-wait, what’s wrong, Ucchi!? D-don’t cry! Um, um….”

Mishi-san panicked when she saw my tears.

Her unusual behavior seemed so funny that I burst out laughing and forgot all about my tears.

“H-hahaha…!”

“W-what!? Don’t suddenly start laughing! Ucchi, you’re too emotionally unstable!”

“Sorry, sorry. Your behavior was so strange, I just… hahaha.”

“Enough laughing! Yikes, I’m embarrassed….”

Again, Mishi-san’s face turned red, and I could tell she was embarrassed.

Thanks to her, I felt lighter, so I wiped away my tears and faced Mishi-san.

“This is a family matter, but can you listen?”

“Oh… Well, of course! If it’s okay with you, tell me everything and feel better. Talking might make you feel better!”

Encouraged by Mishi-san’s gentle smile, I told her everything that had happened.

Rina’s cold insults, her refusal to do any housework, her refusal to be intimate, not even letting me touch her, and how she forgot our anniversary and went out drinking.

As I told her everything, Mishi-san’s smile gradually stiffened.

“W-what…? What is that? That is terrible.”

Her voice, which was so bright just a moment ago, suddenly became deep, and I couldn’t help but flinch.

Even someone as slow as me could see that she was really angry.

“Do you know why your wife became like that?”

“No… I don’t know at all. Gradually, without realizing it, she became like that….”

I thought I was treating her normally.

I’m sure I didn’t do anything to make Rina hate me.

When I told her that, Mishi-san mumbled quietly.

“…Maybe she’s cheating on you?”

“What!?”

I blurted out loud at her unexpected statement.

Cheating. It’s not impossible, but I can’t believe it.

No, I don’t want to believe it.

“N-no… That can’t be….”

“Really? Because when I hear this story, it feels like it is. She was cold, insulting, refused intimacy… And on top of that, she took off her ring and went out drinking on your anniversary? That’s suspicious no matter how you look at it.”

If you look at it that way, it might explain why she stopped loving me.

But I still don’t want to believe it.

When I think of the worst-case scenario, my whole body shakes.

“I understand how you feel, Ucchi, but you can’t run away from it. You have to face reality.”

“But….”

“You really want to believe that, don’t you? But no, it’s not like that. You still care about your wife, deep down inside.”

“Is that… so?”

“Yes, annoyingly so.”

“Eh…?”

Thinking I might have misheard, I looked at Mishi-san’s face, and she had a big, bright smile.

No, to be exact, there was a blue vein pulsating at Mishi-san’s temple. It was a little… no, it was quite scary.

“Oh, I know! Hey, hey! I just had a great idea!”

“Eh…?”

Mishi-san, with a mischievous smile similar to Hana-chan’s, leaned in and whispered a suggestion into my ear.

Her face was so close that my heart started pounding again, but when I heard what she said, I was shocked.

Because it was completely out of the blue for me.