Chapter 13: The Washroom

The envelope from the loan company was waiting on the kotatsu on Thursday evening.

Nanami opened it standing up, still in her coat.

The statement said her balance was 1,640,000 yen.

She read it twice.

Last month it had been 1,700,000, and she had not paid more than the usual amount.

She decided it was the winter bonus, paid straight to the bank.

She put the paper under a tea cup and forgot it.

There was a party to go to.

It was the Section Three "recovery dinner" after Hakone, in a basement izakaya in Iidabashi, with a karaoke room through the wall.

Iwase had sent a message at noon saying he had a cold and would not attend.

The whole floor had breathed out at once.

Aya had texted her at six: "I'm bringing someone. Don't be mad."

The someone was standing at the door of the izakaya in a long cream trench coat, with her red hair down.

"Hoshino-san," Ria said, with a small formal bow, and every head at the long table turned.

"This is my friend's landlady," Aya announced to the room, and winked.

Ria sat down beside Nanami and ate three skewers with great dignity.

She said nothing to anyone, and her knee pressed against Nanami's under the table the entire time.

Nanami drank barley tea and felt her face getting warmer with each minute.

Ria leaned in under the noise of the karaoke.

"You are wanting very loudly," she said into her ear. "It smells like honey."

"Stop that."

"I will not. The washroom is down the corridor. Go first."

Nanami went.

It was a narrow, tiled washroom with two stalls and a hand dryer, and the singing next door came through the wall.

She was washing her hands when the door opened and Ria slipped in and turned the lock.

"There are people," Nanami whispered.

"There is a man in there singing about a river. Nobody will hear a thing."

Nanami took her by the lapels and pulled her into the far stall.

She shut the door and shot the bolt, and pressed Ria back against the partition.

They kissed hard, with Ria's hands knotted in the front of her white blouse.

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Succubus Landlady Has a Contract With My Grandmother from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.