Chapter 692: Cohabitation?
The car door closed softly, shutting out some of the noise of Jiangjie City. Satou Shinichi, with a trace of excitement, walked with Kazumi towards the entrance of the modernized apartment building, explaining as they went: “This is our first time here too. I didn’t expect it to be so luxurious. It should be enough for us to live in.”
The automatic glass door slid open silently, revealing a hall with an extremely high ceiling and ample light, the floor and the designer pendant lights descending. Kazumi followed quietly behind the young boy. A hint of confusion showed on her calm, placid face, but seeing her boyfriend’s excited demeanor, she didn’t expose it and let him continue his enthusiastic narration.
The two people took the high-speed elevator directly to the designated floor. When the elevator stopped on the twenty-ninth floor, they stepped out. The floor layout of such a high-level apartment was also very spacious, with seemingly only a few rooms per floor.
Satou Shinichi casually grabbed his mobile phone, seemingly cross-referencing it with the messages on the texting app, searching for the room numbers one by one. Finally, he stopped before the door marked 2903. The young boy reached into his bag and took out an exquisite key card. He hesitated for a few seconds before unskillfully using the key card to open the thick entrance door, and then he stepped inside first.
“Wow!” Everything that greeted him made Satou Shinichi exclaim in surprise, clearly also his first time here. The living room was extremely spacious, occupying most of his field of vision. A whole wall of huge floor-to-ceiling windows showcased the prosperity of Minjishi City, even encompassing the surrounding landscape. Light filtered through the sheer gauze curtains, softly filling the entire space. The furniture had clearly been carefully selected and matched, with smooth lines in a modern style. The sofa, the original wood coffee table that looked expensive, and several pieces of artistic decorations created a low-key yet luxurious atmosphere everywhere.
“Kazumi, look! This place is amazing! You can see the panoramic view of Minjishi City!” After changing into slippers, Satou Shinichi, without even putting down his bag, rushed straight to the huge floor-to-ceiling window and looked for a long time. Then, he turned to look at Kazumi, his face instantly bursting with an excitement like discovering a new continent, urging his girlfriend to come and see the vast scenery with him. “Auntie Ryuji is really generous. This place is even better than I imagined. She usually lives in such a nice apartment, and now it’s a bargain for us!”
“Auntie Ryuji? So that’s how it is…” This time, the young girl finally knew who the owner of this high-level apartment was. To be honest, based on the young girl’s previous estimation, Satou Shinichi should have been like Satou Shinichi, with the parents of his friend giving or renting an apartment on this side. It was also possible for Satou Shinichi to borrow a place to stay there for a while given his relationship with her. Kazumi had also been thinking about whether she could continue to secretly learn some things. If she could manipulate knowledge, it would be of great help to someone like Kazumi, who was self-taught.
“But then, why would anyone specifically choose to come here? Could it be that…?” Kazumi, following Satou Shinichi’s call, didn’t walk towards the floor-to-ceiling window with him. Instead, she scanned the entire space with her eyes, like a radar. Her gaze quickly swept over the luxurious decoration, scanning the entire room like a fine-tuned radar. The open-plan kitchen, the spacious living room, the bright floor-to-ceiling windows… Finally, her gaze settled on the only closed doorframe inside the room.
“Huh? Kazumi, what’s wrong?” Satou Shinichi, noticing that Kazumi didn’t seem to be appreciating what he had shown her, turned around and placed his schoolbag on the cabinet next to the young boy. Satou Shinichi looked at Kazumi in the distance with some confusion. Following Kazumi’s gaze, Satou Shinichi also seemed to suddenly realize something. His smile gradually froze, and a hint of hope began to fill his expression. He walked from the living room towards the corridor, then peeked into the bathroom. The excitement on his face was instantly replaced by confusion. “The other rooms… where are they?”
He stopped at the doorframe and reached out to the doorknob. After hesitating for a moment, he still pushed the door open. Inside was a spacious master bedroom, complete with a walk-in closet and a bathroom, but it was clearly the only bedroom. Satou Shinichi’s expression instantly changed from confusion to panic. He turned sharply to look at Kazumi, his face flushing “whoosh.” He flailed his hands in a panic, “N-No! Kazumi, I don’t know! Auntie Ryuji just said there was an apartment, she didn’t say it was like this…”
Just then, Kazumi’s cold voice rang out, interrupting his helpless explanation: “It is indeed very luxurious… the environment and decoration are impeccable. But, Satou Shinichi, can you tell me why there is only one bedroom?” Kazumi’s expression was blank. She pointed directly at the door of the only bedroom, her voice carrying an irrefutable questioning tone.
Satou Shinichi was so anxious that beads of sweat almost formed on his forehead. He explained rapidly: “Uh… that… Kazumi, listen to me… I really didn’t know it would be like this!” His eyes darted about, completely afraid to meet Kazumi’s cold, scrutinizing gaze. “Because they are holding the national kendo competition soon, and the kendo hall is also one of the venues. The guest rooms were booked out long ago, so we probably couldn’t go there to stay. You seem to prefer quiet, and I didn’t dare to ask Sister Sakura. I remembered that Auntie Ryuji had a place to live here, so I… I asked her for help. Auntie Ryuji said she was happy to hear from me and immediately told me she had an apartment here that she could lend to us…” His voice grew softer and softer, filled with a lot of grievance and panic. “But she didn’t say there was only one bedroom! Kazumi, I really didn’t know it would be like this!”
“Hmm? Is that so?” Kazumi tilted her head slightly, her face still expressionless, but a very faint, almost imperceptible hint of teasing joy flickered in the corners of her dark eyes. Her tone also carried a hint of deliberate suspicion. “Is it that someone deliberately only found an apartment with one bedroom?”
“It really wasn’t! Absolutely not! I swear!” Satou Shinichi jumped up as if his tail had been stepped on, his face turning red. He gestured frantically, his speech so fast that he almost bit his tongue. “Kazumi, you have to believe me! How could I do such a thing! I really just told Auntie Ryuji that we needed a temporary place to stay, and she readily gave me the key card and said to live there freely! If I had known there was only one bedroom, I would have definitely thought of another way!” “Or should I go out and get a hotel room to sleep in? Kazumi, I absolutely didn’t think that!” He looked into Kazumi’s eyes, which seemed to see through people’s hearts, and anxiously sweated on his forehead, insisting he had no ulterior motives.
Satou Shinichi quietly watched him for a few seconds, staring at his flustered and helpless appearance. The hint of a smile he dared not reveal in his eyes deepened slightly. She finally nodded gently, her tone softening, “Okay, I understand. I believe you.” Hearing this, Satou Shinichi immediately let out a long sigh of relief. The whole person felt as if a thousand pounds had been lifted off his shoulders, and he snapped out of his panic. He raised his hand to wipe away nonexistent sweat from his face. His tightly strung nerves finally relaxed, and he revealed a relieved smile: “That’s great… It’s good that you believe me.”
However, before his pure heart could fully settle, he saw Kazumi walk straight towards the only bedroom. Satou Shinichi froze for a moment, subconsciously took a step following her, and opened his mouth as if to ask her something, but then he didn’t know how to start. Kazumi walked into the spacious bedroom, scanned the area, and quickly located the walk-in closet. She opened the closet door and searched for a moment, then smoothly pulled out a quilt and a pillow that looked soft and comfortable. Then, she turned around and walked in front of Satou Shinichi, who was still standing at the bedroom doorway, his mind not yet catching up. Without hesitation, she shoved the pile of soft bedding in her arms entirely into his embrace.
Satou Shinichi instinctively held the suddenly thrust quilt and pillow. The soft fabric buried half his face, leaving only his eyes visible. Satou Shinichi blinked his eyes, staring foolishly at Kazumi, completely not understanding what this meant. Kazumi clapped her hands, her tone light and natural, as if talking about something ordinary. “It seems there are enough quilts, and the quality is quite good. Can you sleep on the sofa? It should be quite comfortable too.”
“Ah?” His brain finally seemed to have processed the sudden information, and he nodded in response subconsciously. Before his voice had completely fallen— “Bang!” Right in front of him, the bedroom door was smoothly and decisively locked, and he could even faintly hear the subtle “click” of the internal lock. Satou Shinichi… …?… He stood alone in the magnificent and spacious living room, holding the soft quilt and pillow in his arms, facing the tightly closed door in front of him. He stood there stunned for several seconds before fully coming to his senses.
Inside the bedroom, Kazumi leaned against the cold door panel and slowly let out a breath. She raised her head and surveyed the spacious and luxurious space that now belonged only to her. Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows was the panorama of Minjishi City. Soft light streamed in, outlining the room’s hazy contours. In the quiet space, she could almost hear her own slightly fast heartbeat. She walked to the bedside, leaned her body back slightly, and fell onto the soft, wide bed. Her nose seemed to catch the fresh scent of the sun-drenched air and a very faint fragrance that didn’t belong to her. The young girl raised her arm and placed it over her forehead, shielding her eyes. However, her slightly reddened cheeks and ear tips betrayed that her inner feelings were far from as calm as her outward appearance. In the silence, she seemed to hear herself speaking in a very, very quiet voice, with a hint of unbelievable shyness and mixed with indescribable excitement, as if talking to herself, yet also like a definitive statement. “Does this count as… cohabitation…?”
