I'll need a vacuum.

57

My room was pretty much tidy, luckily. It must be said that despite the few months spent in it, I had just a few items. The majority had remained in my old apartment and if I had been able to recover part of it after the police concluded that I was dead and released the apartment, the rest must have been thrown away or sold by my landlord. I had almost nothing left of the objects I had collected over the past few years while living alone. Gojo had by some miracle found people who had pretended to be my parents to confirm my death and recover my belongings, and so I had been able to find a small part of my clothes and some trinkets. These adorned the dusty desk of my simple empty dormitory room, which I had occupied since my arrival. I hadn't really attached myself to it, the long hours of solitude and my depression had been enough to disgust me with it, but for lack of anything better.. . I thought about all this while piling them up to stuff them in a bag, between two or three books and clothes. Nanami was helping me gather my things and in no time the room was back to its original appearance : a bed with a green blanket and an empty wardrobe. I put my bags down and sat on the bed, sighing.

" It feels weird."

I turned to Nanami, who had just sat down next to me, the bed creaking under his weight.

"I know. You can come back, I'm not forcing you to do anything."

I rested my head on his shoulder, tired.

"Yeah, I know. But on the other hand, it's fine with me, we'll see how it goes and if there's a problem, we'll find a solution."

He put his hand on my head and stroked it gently, and we stood like that for a long time, staring at the dust that fluttered in the fading daylight. The night was coming soon, we had to hurry, but I didn't want to move. The moment of calm that we were living soothed me and I took the time to savor it. With a last sigh, I gave the signal for departure. I was ready to start a new part of my life, and to dive into the unknown of a life as a couple, I who had never experienced anything like it.

The trip was rushed and we found ourselves in front of his door much faster than I expected. I was stupidly stressed even though it wasn't the first time, but it was symbolic. It had been 2 days since I knew he loved me, 2 days since I was living what had always seemed unattainable to me : to relate with someone and for it to be truly reciprocal. I still couldn't get over it...

Nanami had opened the door and was looking at me, worried.

"Won't you come in ?"

"Oh..excuse me. I was elsewhere."

I took my shoes off and put on the slippers he handed me, before stepping cautiously into the room. The apartment hadn't changed, only my status, but I felt like I was rediscovering everything with new eyes. Nanami turned to me and smiled at me.

"Welcome to your home."

I smiled back hesitantly, tasting the sound of his words on my tongue. My home. It's been a long time since I've had a real home. Truth be told, I had moved too far to consider having a childhood home, and although my small apartment before was my first, leaving it hadn't upset me as much as I thought. My life too turned upside down in recent months had killed all emotion on it, I had many other things to manage elsewhere to really care about it. I went from room to room, fingers sliding over the furniture to get my bearings. I felt Nanami's gaze on my back, and the weight of the silent question "isn't it too soon?". Only time would tell.

His apartment was much larger than mine, because Monsieur had more money than my small salary as a biologist. Just as well, he was risking his life ! His living space consisting of a nice open kitchen, a living room with a large sofa, armchair, bookcase and carpet with a view overlooking the city were much more attractive than my own living room/office/kitchen/junkyard of the time. We breathed better there. The week of vacation that I had spent there had done me good, and I found this calm with pleasure.