Chapter 15 Section 15

Compared with the whole house, the bathroom of Sugita's house is very large.The bath is very long, and there is still room for adults to lie in it and stretch their legs.Matching with the bathtub, the space under the shower is also very spacious.It seems that the previous homeowner must have loved taking a bath.It can be said that the primary reason why Heisuke likes this house is the large bathroom. Hirasuke soaked in the bathtub, looking around every corner of the bathroom.Naoko's shower cap hung on a small hook attached to the wall with a suction cup, and he wondered if Naoko had used it recently.There was also a pink safety razor on the shelf for shampoo and soap.Heisuke, who is not good at razors, shaves with an electric razor every morning.The pink razor Naoko used to trim her armpits.Hirasuke speculated that she must not need it now.

According to the habit of the Sugita family, everyone in the family has to take a bath every day.But tonight, Naoko, who is on her period, can't take a shower.Heisuke only started taking a bath alone when Naoko was admitted to the hospital.Before the accident, except for the night shift, he always had to wash with Naoko or Sami Nami, which also took full advantage of the spacious bathroom. He also thought that from now on, he would not be able to take a bath with Naoko directly.Of course, if it is a normal couple, there is nothing wrong with washing together until death.But the problem is that the current Naoko is both Naoko and not Naoko.Her appearance is that of their daughter Sami Nami.

Among Heisuke's acquaintances, men who have daughters of the same age as Sami Nami lament: Recently, their daughter refuses to take a bath with him.Originally, Sami Nami should have reached this stage.Therefore, although others will not see it, it should not be appropriate to do that in your own home from now on... The more Ping Jie thought about it, the more he couldn't figure out his thoughts, and his brain was in chaos.He wet the towel with water, pressed it on his forehead and got out of the bath. In the Japanese-style room, Naoko is preparing for tomorrow.She placed the paper with the schedule on the table, and packed textbooks and notes into her schoolbag while reading it.

"I wanted to ask you just now, why did you do such a thing here?" Heisuke asked while taking out a can of 350ml beer from the refrigerator. "What's the matter, is there anything wrong here?" "Ah, that's not true, I was just thinking, doesn't Sami Nami have a room for her own study?" The Western-style room with 6 straw mats on the second floor is Sami Nami's room. "Oh. But, how should I put it..." She hesitated a bit. "Is there something wrong with her room?" "Ah, no, it's not that reason, it's just that I don't want to use that room."

"why?" "Because...you may feel bored when you say it..." Naoko looked at Heisuke and said, "I always kept the room that Sami Nami was in when she was alive." "what?" "The way things are arranged on the table, the folded shape of the quilt on the bed, I try to keep it as it is. Only when I need to get necessities such as textbooks and notes, I will touch them, but I will also be very careful and try not to touch them. irrelevant place." After she finished speaking, she lowered her head and looked at her hands. Heisuke stopped the hand that was about to open the beer.There was no question in his mind why she did this at all, but he felt very self-blame for his careless behavior that he had never cared about what Sami Nami's room was like.Naoko not only has to imitate Sami Nami to go to school, but also cleans the house every day.Presumably she must worry about how to clean her daughter's room every day.

"So this is ah." "Sorry, I know I'm stupid for thinking that." "Can I go and see?" "Is it Sami Nami's room?" "Ok." "Can." Heisuke stood up, and Naoko also stood up. There are two rooms on the second floor of Sugita's house.After going up the steps, there are two opposite doors. On the right is Sami Nami's room, and on the left is the bedroom of the couple. Ping Jie slowly opened the door on the right, and there was a faint aroma of shampoo in the room.The room was dark.Heisuke was groping for the position of the switch on the wall, when Naoko stretched out his hand from the side and turned on the switch at once.After the fluorescent lights flickered, white light filled the room.

"As expected of Sami Nami's room." Hirasuke couldn't help slipping a sentence. This is definitely Sami Nami's room.There is a magazine on the table by the window, and the cover is a smiling super popular male idol group.There are also pictorials of the same idol group on the wall.Hirasuke recently heard Sami Nami say that the name of this idol group is called "Youth Team".There is a large row of shoujo manga on the bookshelf.A small single bed with checkered sheets.Next to the pillow sat a teddy bear, yes, that teddy bear.The surface of the bed sheet is slightly uneven, which is the trace of Sami Nami lying down.He felt that if he touched it, he could feel Sami Nami's body temperature.

"How do you clean it?" Heikake asked. "It's as simple as vacuuming the floor." "But then the rest of the place will still be covered with dust, right?" "Yeah." Naoko nodded, "I also know it's impossible to keep going like this forever." "Yes." Heisuke sighed deeply, and then his eyes fell on the chair that Sami Nami used to sit on.There is a small cushion with a strawberry pattern on the chair, which Heisuke looks very familiar to.When Sami Nami was very young, she complained that the chair was too short, so Naoko made this cushion for her.It looks like she's grown up, but the cushion has been in use.

"Naoko, can you sit there and let me see?" "Are you sitting on a chair?" "Ok." Probably because she didn't want to touch other places, Naoko pulled the chair very carefully, sat on it slowly, then looked at Heisuke and asked, "Is that so?" Heisuke put his hands on his hips and looked at Naoko's sitting posture.In an instant, Sami Nami seemed to have returned to his world.He felt as if he was looking at a nostalgic photograph. "Saka Nami," he called out softly. Naoko could not be unaware of what her husband had just seen. "Please," she said, "can you bring me a mirror?"

"Mirror?" He also immediately sensed her thoughts, "I'll look for it." "It's better to be bigger." "I know." An idea came to his mind immediately, "Wait a minute, I'll get it right away." Ping Jie left the room and went straight to the opposite bedroom.It was a Japanese-style room with two wardrobes by the wall and Naoko's dressing mirror in front of the window.These parts are her dowry. He came to the fitting mirror, hugged the mirror with both hands, and pushed the mirror out of the base with force.He had already confirmed that this part could be removed when he moved.

After completely removing the mirror, he returned to Sami Nami's room with the mirror in his arms. "Ah, you're so smart!" Naoko admired her husband's ability to handle affairs. Heisuke put the mirror on the floor and pointed it at Naoko: "Can you see it?" "Pull it up a little bit, and then a little bit to the left. Well, that's it." Naoko managed to see her daughter in the mirror.After staring at it for a while, she looked at Pingsuke with moist eyes: "I really want to take a picture of her." "I'm going to get the camera." "Ah, no need." Judging from her tone, it seemed that it was meaningless to take a photo.Naoko looked affectionately at her daughter in the mirror again, occasionally changing the angle of her face, moving her hands and feet. "This room. Let's use it." Heisuke said, "In addition, it needs to be cleaned well... What do you think?" Naoko lowered her head first, then raised it again. "You're right." She said with a smile on her face. The two returned to their bedroom, spread the quilt, and planned to sleep.Just when he was confused, Hirasuke felt that Naoko was tapping his shoulder.He opened his eyes to see Naoko staring at his face. "What's wrong?" he asked in a muffled voice. Naoko first showed a coy look, and then asked: "I want to ask you, what do you do there?" "Where am I? What are you talking about? Where am I?" When he reacted, the drowsiness was gone all of a sudden.He opened his eyes wide: "You mean that kind of thing?" "Well, what are you going to do?" "What else can I do? There is no way, because something like this happened." "We can't do it, can we?" "Of course! Stop talking nonsense, how is it possible...with my own daughter, and she is still a primary school student!" "But, can Hirasuke bear it? If you can't do it for a long time, will it accumulate in your body?" "It's not a question of whether you can bear it or not! Although I know you are a naoko, I can't help but feel uncomfortable seeing your current body. I'm not that kind of pervert!" "That's right. Will you find another woman then?" "Ah?" Hirasuke sat up and crossed his legs on the quilt, "I never thought about that kind of thing. In short, there is nothing we can do about it, we can only choose to give up." "Yes." Naoko nodded expressionlessly. "Please, don't say such things again. You may not care when you say it, but when I listen to it here, I think it's Sami Nami who is talking." "Ah, yes, I'm sorry. Then, we won't mention this kind of thing again in the future." "Yeah." Hirasuke stretched his feet into the quilt again."I have a suggestion," he said before pulling the covers over himself, though. "What advice?" "It's a suggestion about what we call each other. At home now, I call you 'Naoko', and you call me 'Husband' or 'Heisuke', right? I think it's better for us to change it? " "Do you mean to address them like they were outside?" "Yes. I think it is necessary to develop such a habit. There will be a long time to come." "What you said makes sense..." Naoko looked at the roof and fell into deep thought for a while.As she mused, Heisuke looked at the pattern on her pajamas.There are sketches of various expressions on it, there are angry cats, crying cats, smiling sketches, and cats pretending to be serious... "I see," she said at last. "I think it's better that way, too." "Really?" "Well, then from tonight I won't call you Heisuke, but I will call you Dad." "That's what I mean." "Good night, then, Dad." "Good night... Sami Nami." Hirasuke got into the quilt, but the drowsiness has disappeared without a trace.After a while, there was the sound of Naoko's even breathing while she was asleep.It's still a child's feeling. Hirasuke stared at the darkness in front of him with his sober brain in his arms.He was thinking about this question: Did I lose my daughter or my wife?