episode_0131

Tia was nowhere to be seen.

…Where had she gone again?

I looked around.

It now seemed the general store had changed slightly.

One display shelf next to the counter was gone.

It was the largest display shelf visible immediately upon entering, so the empty space felt strangely hollow.

That display shelf was practically a symbol of this general store. Fosao used to frequently change the items on it. Usually, newly arrived toys or even some nameless tools would be displayed, making it interesting to browse.

But perhaps it was no longer needed now. It had vanished completely.

However, in the space where that large display shelf had disappeared… something else had appeared.

A wooden table. And on either side, a large chair and a small chair faced each other.

As if they had just finished drinking, teacups remained on the table.

On the small chair, a ball of yarn was placed, tangled in knitting.

I went to another area.

I could see that, little by little, many things had changed.

Most of all, the interior had become incredibly neat and bright.

Miscellaneous items always hung dangling from the ceiling, and decorations on the walls were covered in thick black dust, giving it a gloomy feel.

But with all of that cleared away, Fosao’s general store looked so beautiful, making me wonder if it had always been this spacious and bright.

It felt awkward. Fosao rarely tidied up.

He was a person who found everything lazy and bothersome, so if something came in, he would just pile it up as it was.

Since he lived alone anyway, it probably wasn’t a problem. As long as there was a passage wide enough for his plump belly to pass through, he probably would have lived his whole life like a dark, smelly pigsty.

But this neat and tidy appearance, as if all the items knew ‘their place’…

…It must undoubtedly be Tia’s doing.

Even just observing it like this, Tia’s house seemed to overlap with it.

It no longer felt like a mere ‘general store,’ a place for buying and selling goods.

Laundry spread out neatly beside the fireplace, a basket holding fabrics, a large coat hanging on the wall, and even a book laid open on the counter.

The sense of daily life felt everywhere… it looked like a home where an ordinary married couple lived.

“……Ahaha!”

A faint sound of laughter could be heard.

It was from the kitchen.

I walked slowly towards it.

Tia was still nowhere to be seen, but this place too had completely changed.

Fosao had always claimed that he cooked for himself.

The lazy Fosao cooking for himself? It was nonsense to begin with, but if that claim were true, his cooking would undoubtedly be trash, to the point where the kitchen was dirty and chaotic.

However… I couldn’t say that anymore.

Neatly arranged cooking utensils. A cleanly wiped cauldron, and a large basket filled with ingredients.

Most importantly, the habit of leaning the kitchen knife against the wall, tilted so the blade didn’t touch the floor, was something only Aunt Merid, who was so meticulous, did.

In other words, it was something only people from ‘Breezedown’ would recognize and do.

The only girl who learned to cook under Aunt Merid… was one person.

It was Tia.

Strange.

This was Fosao’s house.

Tia’s touch was visible everywhere.

…But it wasn’t exactly like Tia’s house, which was always perfectly spotless.

Fosao’s clothes, carelessly discarded, were visible. And the bread crumbs he had dropped while eating were scattered messily on the floor.

It was a unique sight, as if Fosao’s constant messiness and Tia’s diligent domesticity were half-blended… yet it didn’t feel awkward and was suitably harmonious.

Trickle…

The sound of water could be heard.

I turned my head.

It was the bathroom.

I approached it.

From the gap in the bathroom door, where faint steam escaped, the sound of trickling water continued.

I brought my eye to the gap.

Through the upper window, where sunlight faintly entered, beneath shadows like drawn curtains, there was a gray stone bathtub.

And in it sat a large mass of flesh.

It was Fosao.

“……Hehe.”

But the voice coming from inside the bathroom was a high, clear laugh that couldn’t possibly come from his fat neck.

Behind his flabby shoulders and belly fat, a pale-skinned girl sat huddled, naked.

It was Tia.

“One more time?”

“…Mmm.”

Tia, her bright red hair completely soaked, stood up and plunged a basket deep into the bathtub.

She then vigorously scooped hot water and poured it over Fosao’s back.

Splash!

She then rubbed his back with a soft cloth and spoke.

“Mister, your back is really big.”

“…Neeheehee. I-I guess I am, right?”

“Well, my arms hurt because of it. But I didn’t say I disliked it.”

“Really?”

Tia smiled.

“Rather… I like it. Even when you carried me on your back in Deseo, it felt warm and cozy, so I dozed off.”

“Yeah. Th-that’s right.”

“Hmm- what should I say-.”

Their voices echoed softly, as if they were inside a cave.

“It feels sort of… ‘manly’?”

He chuckled strangely!

At being called ‘manly,’ Fosao let out a strange laugh, incredibly pleased.

“I-I liked it when Tia’s ch-chest touched my back back then…”

“Eek…!”

A flustered Tia splashed water onto Fosao’s back.

“No perverted talk all of a sudden!”

“B-but… Tia’s chest, I-I definitely felt it! It was soft and tender…”

“……”

“I-I want to feel it one more time. No?”

“Honestly…”

Tia hesitated for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.

Squeeze.

She squeezed her eyes shut and hugged Fosao tightly.

Her small chest pressed against his large back, visibly swelling out on either side.

In Deseo, Tia had been carried on Fosao’s back when he came to rescue her.

At that time, the girl was wearing clothes covered in dust and blood, and Fosao was wearing a thick coat.

I had seen it as a perfectly natural sight… him hurriedly carrying an injured person on his back.

But now, with neither of them wearing anything.

Her chest and his back were pressed together.

Tia hugged him tightly, pressing her chest against him, as if to convey her heartbeat.

“Is that enough?”

“Heh heh. Heh. Good…”

Fosao chuckled with satisfaction.

“Tia, you’re b-becoming a woman now.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“Your ch-chest seems to have gotten bigger than before.”

“You can feel that?”

At her sullenly asked question, he hastily made excuses.

“Because I-I’ve touched them before… so the feeling is different.”

“Hmm- I guess that’s true.”

Tia looked down at her own chest.

“……Because it was only you, Mister.”

“Wh-what?”

“The person who’s touched my chest.”

At her words, Fosao’s lips curled up as he asked.

“…And from now on?”

“……”

Tia lowered her head slightly.

“From now on too… it’ll only be you, Mister. The only one who can touch my chest…”

Fosao, who had been sitting, turned around.

The two met each other’s gaze.

After a moment like that… Fosao stealthily brought his face closer.

He leaned in.

As his enormous face approached, Tia naturally closed her eyes.

She slightly parted her lips and kissed Fosao.

The kiss wasn’t long.

They had only been connected for a brief moment before parting, yet both of them were breathing a little heavily.

Fosao whispered.

“Should we… g-go up like this?”

“It’s cold. You’ll catch a cold.”

“W-we can warm each other with our bodies.”

Saying that, he stroked Tia’s slender waist with a lecherous hand.

It was a slightly reluctant gesture from her, but when Fosao stood up, she rose with him, still in his embrace.

The two opened the bathroom door and came out.

Water droplets dripped onto the floor.

The air on the first floor of the general store was chilly because the fireplace hadn’t been fixed yet.

“Cold…”

Since she hadn’t even dried her wet body, it must have felt much colder, so Tia hugged Fosao even tighter to share his body heat.

As if embracing a shivering cat, Fosao drew Tia close to his hairy chest.

Water trails remained where the two had passed.

On the water-soaked floor, a giant footprint and a small footprint were imprinted side by side.

The direction of the toes led up the stairs to the second floor.

Mindlessly, I chased after their illusion.

The fireplace on the second floor was visible.

Tia was crouched in front of it, wrapped in a blanket.

Through the folds of the blanket… her plump, water-soaked skin was faintly visible.

What could she be thinking? She was staring blankly at her toes.

Somehow… I thought I knew.

One summer night.

Because I remembered the day Tia secretly came to my house for a snack party.

“……Hehe. Warm.”

“I’ll get the snacks, so warm yourself up.”

“Okay.”

At that time, when the air was unusually chilly.

Tia was wrapped in a blanket, crouching in front of the kettle.

Remembering that incredibly innocent night when we were playing around and accidentally rolled on the floor together…

My heart felt like it would tear apart.

Thump-thump.

Fosao approached Tia’s side.

“Sh-should I dry your hair?”

“Thank you.”

When Fosao sat down with his legs wide apart, Tia demurely sat there, like a baby bird settling into its nest.

As he dried her hair with a dry cloth, he said.

“W-we… being wet like this… it r-reminds me of the cabin.”

“You too, Mister?”

Tia’s eyes widened. And she grinned with a joyful eye-smile.

“I… I was just thinking the same thing.”

Ah. I see.

I was thinking about the night we had a snack party.

But you were remembering the day you took shelter in an empty cabin to escape the storm.

…Haha.

Had she forgotten her memories with ‘me’ now?

I couldn’t forget.

Those happy, shy, intense memories were too precious to forget.

But you, everything has already been overwritten with memories of Fosao.

That’s why, even when I looked at your face, I couldn’t tell what you were thinking anymore.

“…Oh.”

Tia, who was drying her hair, suddenly hunched her shoulders.

“Wh-what’s wrong? D-did I do it too hard?”

“No… it’s not that…”

She glanced back at Fosao with an embarrassed side-eye.

“Because that keeps touching me…”

Fosao’s dark penis was touching Tia’s pale back.

She couldn’t pretend not to notice that thing, wriggling and growing bigger.

Fosao smirked.

“Ah… Heh heh! That’s… because I-I’m a man…”

“……”

“S-sorry…”

The atmosphere turned awkward.

Tia turned her head and looked forward again.

And a moment later, she called Fosao in a murmuring voice.

“Mister.”

“Yes?”

Her small hands clenched tightly.

“…Do you want to?”