Time flies in the blink of an eye.
The relaxing summer vacation had quietly slipped away, half of its beautiful moments already gone.
On this summer morning, which seemed to have lost its usual refreshing breeze, streams of cool air continuously poured from the wall-mounted AC into the silent room.
Unknowingly, this simple yet exquisitely decorated high-end apartment had quietly gained a few traces of daily life.
Manuscripts and sheet music scattered messily yet with a hint of order on the coffee table. A guitar and a bass leaning against the leg of a desk simply piled with a few novels and manga.
A pair of game controllers connected to a laptop, and on the screen of the still-running wine-red laptop, two cute, chibi characters wearing chef hats stood in their respective kitchens, seemingly saying, "Why are there no instructions yet? The customers are getting impatient."
As if hearing the urgency of the two chefs on the computer, the two phones on the nightstand—one red, one black, both plugged into chargers—lit up their screens in unison.
The faint glow slightly illuminated the two sleeping faces on the bed beside them, their foreheads pressed together.
"Hoo... hoo... hoo..."
"Hoo... hoo... hoo..."
Accompanied by the faint hum of the AC set to "23" on the wall, two nearly synchronized, peaceful breaths seamlessly blended into the room's tranquility.
Suddenly, as if feeling a bit cold,
the girl sleeping closer to the wall wrinkled her nose slightly. Like a cute kitten, she unconsciously shifted her body under the covers, squeezing herself into the embrace that felt like a warm furnace, her beautifully curved body nestling in.
The boy sleeping on the edge, facing outward, seemed to sense the girl's movement. Even before she could fully squeeze into his arms, he had already lifted his arm under the covers slightly.
Just enough distance for the girl to easily slip in.
Once everything settled, the girl once again felt the familiar body temperature, and the boy once again embraced the familiar softness and weight.
On their two increasingly aligned sleeping faces, a trace of a smile—filled with reassurance, doting affection, and tenderness—reappeared.
Watching the couple cuddling on the bed, the two phones, which had been plotting to wake their respective owners, helplessly looked at each other, then sighed in amusement.
Giving up on waking their masters, the two phones silently said goodnight, and their faintly glowing screens dimmed back into silence.
The room returned to its initial peace and harmony once more.
Tick—tock!
Tick—tock!
Tick—tock!
Listening to the footsteps of time slipping away, the digital clock, which had somehow moved from the nightstand to the nearby desk, playfully fiddled with the impatient numbers, giggling as it pulled out "9:27" and proudly displayed it on its chest.
Time to wake up! You two adults.
The two dutiful phones lit up again, looking utterly helpless.
Just then, a call labeled "Mom" abruptly pushed aside the wallpaper of the cuddling couple on the wine-red phone.
Then.
"The wind that passed between the two of us..."
"Where did it bring this unknown loneliness from..."
A gentle, soothing singing voice quietly broke the silence of the room.
The couple cuddling in bed was simultaneously startled from their sweet dreams by the sudden ringtone.
"Miyahito...."
With a hint of dissatisfaction in her murmur, Utaha wrinkled her cute brows slightly and gently pushed her boyfriend, complaining with a touch of grievance, "It's so noisy."
"Mm... phone." Still half-asleep, Miyahito subconsciously thought it was his phone ringing. Unwilling to get up, he struggled to reach his arm out from the warm covers, blindly groping backward until he finally managed to grab the wine-red phone that had disturbed their sweet dream.
As Miyahito brought the phone over from the nightstand, hearing the ringtone grow louder, Utaha finally couldn't hold back. She opened her wine-red eyes with clear dissatisfaction.
Just as she was about to say, "Hurry up and answer it, Miyahito," she noticed the wine-red phone in her boyfriend's hand. Suddenly more awake, she quickly raised her hand to block his finger from touching the answer icon.
"Utaha?" Sensing his girlfriend's movement, Miyahito opened his eyes a sliver and mumbled subconsciously, "It's probably Maki-nee's call... Let's sleep a bit more... I-I'll get up to answer it...."
However, before he could finish his sentence, the weight of the phone in his hand suddenly vanished.
Immediately after.
"Hello....."
Oh, so it wasn't my phone after all.
Realizing this belatedly, Miyahito, with his eyes half-open and half-closed, looked at his girlfriend, who was holding the phone to her ear with one hand, her eyes still closed, murmuring.
Then, without a second thought, he naturally reached out to help Utaha hold the phone against her ear.
Like someone talking in their sleep, he asked vaguely and very quietly,
"Who..."
"Hmm? Utaha, where are you? Why do I hear a boy's voice?"
"...."
Still groggy, Utaha was about to reply, "I'm at home," when her sluggish brain finally registered whose voice it was.
Instantly wide awake, she sat bolt upright. A look of panic flashed across her slightly messy, pretty face as she fumbled to hold the phone properly.
Opening her eyes wide, she stared at the word "Mom" glaringly displayed on the screen, and her mind went completely blank.
M-Mom's call!!!
At the same time,
Miyahito, completely woken up by his girlfriend's sudden movement, half-rolled over. As he subconsciously prepared to sit up, his lips parted slightly.
However, before he could even speak, Utaha, who had anticipated his intentions, directly covered his mouth with her palm.
"Hey, Mom, I... I'm at home."
Frantically signaling with her eyes for Miyahito to stay quiet, Utaha took a small breath and spoke into the receiver with a feigned calmness.
"I was just sleeping. There's no man's voice here."
"....."
On the other end of the line, her mother fell into an eerily silent pause for a moment.
Then, just as cold sweat was about to break out on Utaha's tense forehead,
"Really?"
"Y-yes, yes! Of course it's true!"
For some reason, even though she was on the phone and her mother couldn't see her reactions at all, Utaha nodded obediently like a chick pecking at rice.
"Oh, you probably heard it from the TV." Catching a glimpse of the computer screen paused on a game settlement screen, Utaha had a sudden flash of inspiration and quickly said,
"I forgot to turn off the computer last night before sleeping, and it's still playing a drama."
"...Which drama?"
"..."
As expected of Mom, one slip-up and I'm doomed.
"Grand Maison Tokyo!"
"Which episode?"
"Episode 7!"
Having finally managed to dodge the bullet, Utaha skillfully changed the subject as she heard her mother muttering, "Episode 7 has that line," on the other end.
"By the way, Mom, you....."