Romantic Killer But I Made It Gay

Part 72

We sit in a circle, no one brave enough to say the first word. Finally Emi decides to break the silence with, "Is everything going okay? Y'know, with...living together and everything?"

"Y-Yeah!" we all stammer.

"I think it's going alright," Kazuki glances sideways at me. "If Mori thinks so."

Immediately my eyes dart from Kazuki to Emi, who's in the process of recovering her cool. It's not like Kazuki meant any harm. There's no way he could know...I almost want to tell him "call me Haru, okay? Just for tonight," but I don't know if he'd be uncomfortable with that, not too mention it sounds weird and slightly creepy. I still don't know enough about him to make that assumption just yet.

"Haru?" Junta looks between me and Emi, immediately picking up that something's wrong. But he decides not to press it, instead turning to Emi and asking, "So why are you staying over? N-Not that you're not welcome, of course."

"Of course." Emi laughs, already back to her usual self. It's like that strange vulnerability has already passed. Plus, she doesn't usually react when people say my last name. Something must be wrong. I'll have to ask her later.

"Ya see..." Emi leans her head to the side, poking one cheek cutely, "I had to leave, since my dad went to work and my bro brought over some weirdos like he always does. They were drunk, too. He told me to come over here, so I thought I would."

"That bastard," I curse angrily. "He always does this to you! You've gotta fight—ah..."

You've got to fight back!

I can't! You of all people should understand that!

"Fight back?" She grins at me. "Well, I told them: "I hope you're all crossed over to the other side when I get back" before I left, and as I was walking over I texted my dad to let him know what happened. My brother's in for a world of hurt when he gets home!"

"You know, you seem cute, but you're actually kind of terrifying," Kazuki comments and Junta and I nod along sadly.

"Remember when you asked a guy how long his thing was?" I ask and she flushes bashfully.

"He asked what my cup size was first! That's basically the same thing!"

"Terrifying," Junta and Kazuki decide.

"Hey, I'm not terrifying to the good people!" she assures us with a laugh. "Which means you're all safe!"

For some reason I breathe a sigh of relief, and I can see Kazuki doing the same. I don't know why I was worried; I know Kazuki's a good person, but for some reason I thought Emi might disagree. I feel like I can't do anything with a conscience unless I have her blessing.