Texas's foot paused on the gas for a fraction of a second—then she pressed it down again.
No dramatic reaction. She couldn't even be bothered to tap the brakes.
If anything, she'd already used up her quota of surprise earlier.
Once she realized Exusiai and that man were living together—and had been hiding it from everyone—then if there weren't extra reasons behind it, that would be the strange part.
"Mm. And then?" Texas asked. "What's the reason?"
She kept nibbling on her pocky, pushing the conversation forward with casual indifference.
"I'm honestly curious. What kind of situation would make you change this much?"
As she spoke, she glanced sideways at Exusiai's increasingly neutral—bordering on tomboyish—style and couldn't help teasing.
Exusiai's thoughts drifted backward.
She still remembered that rainy night.
Things like this always happened on rainy nights.
"It's because he really makes people… worry," Exusiai murmured at last.
Texas shot her a look. "I think you're the one who's harder to stop worrying about, sometimes."
Exusiai stuck out her tongue and laughed.
But her mind kept slipping further into memory.
"How could anyone not worry?" she said softly. "The first time I met him, he was curled up in a corner. It was raining, and it was already deep into the night."
"I saw him huddled against the street wall in that alley, wearing only something thin, with a piece of plastic above his head like a makeshift roof. He'd already passed out."
"And honestly—if someone that good-looking was a homeless guy, then the competition pressure for being homeless would be ridiculous, wouldn't it?"
"So you brought him home?" Texas asked.
"Yeah. Of course." Exusiai nodded without hesitation. "He looked like he was about to die!"
Texas fell silent, biting the rest of the pocky into her mouth. After a long moment, she shook her head.
"One day you're going to become the kind of weirdo who picks up innocent young men off the street."
"Huh? Really?!"
"Yeah. You've already got the talent for it."
Texas delivered the absurd accusation with a calm, dead-serious tone—then couldn't help smiling.
"And then?"
"Then it turned into a huge mess." Exusiai groaned, visibly getting a headache. "How was I supposed to know he had gynophobia?"
"To get him to stay in my place without freaking out, I had to put in so much effort. He was a nightmare—two sentences with a woman, or the slightest physical contact, and he looked like he was about to die. Terrified, couldn't hold eye contact… When he woke up, the first thing he did wasn't thank me—he recoiled into a corner like I was some kind of monster!"
"Seriously, do I look like a bad person?"
Exusiai puffed out her cheeks, grumbling with real irritation.
"So I had to change my style and habits to be more neutral, and I had to comfort him for ages before he could even talk to me normally."
"I mean… sure, he treats me like a male 'brother,' but the return on investment was worth it."
"He cooks what I like, he does chores, he takes care of me. He drags me into gaming sessions, listens to me complain—oh, and he even maintains my guns. I don't know when he learned, but that guy thinks I don't know! I do!"
Exusiai spoke with the kind of smug pride that came from showing off a treasured secret. Texas kept driving, expression unchanged.
Only after Exusiai's excitement faded a little did Texas finally speak again.
"Okay, now I get the outfit change. But what about the 'can't stop worrying' part?"
Exusiai paused. She went quiet.
"If you put him back out on the street… he'd die, wouldn't he?"
"I agree," Texas said, nodding slightly. "After just two sentences, I got the same feeling."
Then she added, "But that can't be all, right?"
Another long silence followed.
After what felt like ages, Exusiai finally spoke, quietly:
"Because I can't relax. Because I'm scared he'll disappear."
"I finally raised this account to a decent level—what if it vanishes? I like him, that's only natural. But other people? No. Absolutely not."
Texas recalled Exusiai's earlier description and threw out a blunt observation:
"But by your own story, you're 'just brothers' right now."
Exusiai forced an awkward smile. "It makes us sound close!"
Texas went wordless, pulled out another pocky, didn't even bother holding it in her mouth—she just crunched it down, piece by piece.
And maybe because she couldn't stand the silence, Exusiai's smile stiffened. After a while, she slumped and said gloomily:
"Fine. I admit it. My strategy has a tiny… problem."
"It's all because that guy is afraid of women! I can't take it any further! In his eyes I'm basically a dude—how am I supposed to tell him I like him?"
She burst out, voice rising with frustration:
"But I can't confess I'm a girl either! His gynophobia is so bad it's unreal—I swear I wouldn't even finish the sentence before he'd go hang himself from that crooked tree outside the building! What am I supposed to do? I'm desperate too!"
"So the only thing I can do is keep being 'bros' for now. If I explain the truth, I might not even get to be his brother anymore!"
The more she spoke, the more wronged she felt. Exusiai leaned back in her seat, a sudden, heavy fatigue settling into her bones.
"That's why… that guy really makes people worry."
Texas said nothing, hands steady on the wheel. Then, out of nowhere, she stepped on the clutch.
"So your plan is… keep pretending about your gender, stay 'brothers,' and wait for his gynophobia to spontaneously cure itself?"
Exusiai blinked, guilt written all over her face as she looked away.
"…Yeah."
"Alright," Texas sighed. "I won't ask further."
The truck began to slow.
"Good luck," Texas said. "It sounds… unpleasant."
"Mm. Yeah. It is."
Exusiai answered awkwardly.
After another long stretch of silence, she suddenly added:
"If I ever get a chance, I have to get rid of this 'bro' label."
"Mm. And in that case, I won't go looking for him again. Please apologize to him for me."
"Okay."
The truck rolled to a stop. Texas pushed open the door and started unloading.
Work wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. By evening, Exusiai got off on time and returned to her rented apartment.
Even before she entered, she caught the scent of cooking. From the kitchen came the steady, rhythmic sound of chopping.
She closed the door, changed shoes. The keys clinked as she tossed them into the storage box on the shoe rack—the sound rang like a tiny bell throughout the apartment.
From the kitchen, Lin Yuan leaned out halfway. He wore an apron, his face lightly dewed with sweat, and he waved at Exusiai.
"Go sit by the table for a bit. Dinner's almost ready."
"Okay!"
Exusiai dragged out the word, sat at the dining table, and watched his busy silhouette through the curtain—blurred and shifting.
A little later, Lin Yuan came out with plates, setting dish after dish on the table.
At the same time, he smacked away Exusiai's hand as it reached for the pudding.
"Dessert after dinner."
As he spoke, he tore open disposable chopsticks and handed them to her. Exusiai's face fell.
"Has anyone ever told you," she said, "that you look like the type who'd become someone's mom?"
"…Me?"
Lin Yuan sat down, tilting his head slightly.
"Or… like, 'housewife material'?"
"That doesn't sound like it describes me at all. Why are you suddenly talking like that?"
Lin Yuan sighed. Exusiai shrugged.
"Then do you have anything you want to tell me?"
"I do."
Lin Yuan answered without hesitation.
"Ran into a weird person on the street today—Lupo, I think. Seemed like she knows you."
"I went out to buy groceries, she saw me come out of here and thought I was a thief. Honestly—what's so hard to understand about cohabitation?"
"It's like people think two grown men living together is some bizarre thing. Like they assumed we're a man and a woman living together. Right, Exu?"
Lin Yuan ate as he chatted, casual and unconcerned.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Exusiai—then paused.
Exusiai's lips had already gone pale. Cold sweat ran down her back.
This isn't how the script is supposed to go… right?
-------
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