Innocent | Sugawara Koushi

9.

I just want to say that I have nothing to say in my defense about this chapter.

*************************

Knock knock.

I rushed to the door and opened it quickly. I wasn't expecting anyone and I was even more surprised when I saw Kaori outside my door.

"Oh, hi, what are you doing here?" I asked, opening the door wider for her to get inside. Only then I saw the big, heat-resistant vessel covered with aluminum foil and the delicious smell coming from it.

It's lasagna!

"Hi, I came to give you this for taking Ai to our parents the other day." She said, giving me the vessel and taking her shoes off seconds later. "Oh, and I heard that your car is broken, so I asked around and Ichiro knows quite good mechanic who can come here tomorrow and help."

She was not in her usual smart outfit, which surprised me. It was already evening so she surely didn't come straight from work. She had skinny jeans which made her long legs emphasized. With casual, black t-shirt it made her look younger than she already was. Her hair, just as blonde and curly as mine, was loose which was even weirder. She always had a tight bun or ponytail so it looked more professional at work.

"Thanks, I actually forgot about the lasagna. And the car." I said, taking in the scent of my favorite food. I wasn't hungry, since I ate with Sugawara before, but I would never say no to a lasagna.

"I can understand the car, but you forgot about food? Who are you and what have you done to my sister?" She giggled and it felt so different, but really nice all of a sudden. Who is SHE? And where is my cold and always-busy sister?

"Are you alone?" She asked, peeking inside the living room. Sugawara left to meet his friends, so I took the opportunity to sketch a little.

"Yes, why are you asking?" I put the bowl on the kitchen table and taking in the delicious scent coming from the dish.

"You know, you finally have a boyfriend so I thought you would spend evening with him." She followed me into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "You finally did some shopping! I guess he has a good influence on you."

I laughed nervously, avoiding the fact that it was Sugawara who did the shopping. She doesn't need to know that.

"I guess so." It was weird for her to just come here and stay more than necessary, so I was wondering if something happened. "I there anything more you came here for?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

She sat by the table with two plates. "I don't know, I just had free evening and I thought I could sit with you for a while." She was relaxed and the complete change of demeanor put me off guard. I mean, it's nice and all, but I wanted to know more.

"Since when do you have free evenings?" I asked and after putting two small portions of lasagna on plates, I motioned her to come with me to the living room. "They finally understood that you are not a robot and gave you less work?"

"Yeah, something like that." She followed me and sat comfortably on a couch. "Hey, I just remembered that I forgot to tell you what I bought for dad." She pulled out her phone and clicked few times before turning it for me to see.

"A set of golf clubs? I thought he has a lot of that stuff." Of course, our dad as a successful lawyer wanted to be even more prestigious, so he started playing golf few years ago.

"Yes, but mom said it's an old set and he was thinking of buying a new one." She put her phone inside her pocket again and just as she was leaning to take the plate, her gaze dropped at the sketches I've been working on for the past hour. "Woah, did you draw it?" She took one of the pages before I could catch it.