Picked up a Strange Knight – Extra: Lovers’ Quarrel

Translator’s Note

Hello! In the previous release (chapter 14) I wrote that ‘Ilias’s muscle workouts remain a mystery’ in response to the original Author’s Note for that chapter. Taro-sensei saw that note and very kindly sent a copy of the oneshot story in which those workouts are described! I believe this is an entry to a writing contest/challenge where participants must write a oneshot in 60 minutes based on a theme. The time this takes place seems to be somewhere between chapters 10 and 13 of PSK.
Please enjoy!

 

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My Midnight Mini-Edition 60-Minute Oneshot Challenge

Subject: Lovers’ quarrel

 

“Ehhh…?”

It was morning. Work had just started, and while drinking his yogurt through a straw, Mita let out a weird voice.

Mita was a constant generator of weird noises, so I ignored him without reacting in any particular way. I was in the middle of copying some files from the server over to my local machine—that sort of pain-in-the-ass thing—when Mita rolled his chair toward me, sliding my way.

Actually, I don’t want to see his face so close to me in the morning… And on top of that, he reeks with some acrid cologne… My face pinched into a frown.

“Sa—Sakurai-san?”

“Yeah?”

“Nah, it’s just, those wrinkles between your eyebrows are gnaaarly. That’s a totally no-good expression, ya know…”

I’d been trying to ease up on the furrow of my brows, but glared slightly when Mita said those words in a low voice. Mita, however, hadn’t learned from his mistake and once again uttered, “Gnaaarly.” In a sense, Mita could be considered a truly brave fellow.

If it were me sitting next to someone who’d been pissed off the whole morning, for example, then I’d have just left him the fuck alone.

Just as I admired his audacity, this brave fellow who hadn’t even asked me what was going on seized my arm and jumped to his feet. He wasn’t taller than the average person but he was at least taller than me, so when Mita stood he inevitably pulled me up by the arm and forced me to get to my feet as well.

“Wai—What’re you—”

“C’mon, let’s go!” he declared, interrupting me as I tried to chew him out.

The brave hero strode forward, pulling me along and essentially dragging me out from the office. Since business had just started, the corridor was quiet and devoid of people. The rays of sunlight flowing in from the windows gave it a refreshing feel.

Mita walked ahead, not minding the loud sound of his footsteps in the people-less corridor and also not letting go of my arm. By the way, I did speak up in protest, but fell silent after he just ignored my second attempt. Cripes, I really don’t want us to stand out any more than we already do…

◆

The place he eventually pushed me into was the most remote kitchenette on the entire office floor.

I usually never came over here so even though I knew of this kitchenette’s existence, this was actually my first time entering it. It looked like a ladies’ hangout spot—though probably I only thought that because I had been influenced by the daytime dramas Ilias had recounted to me.

Unlike what I had expected, this place conveniently had no one in it.

Mita had been carrying that yogurt in his other hand, but he now dropped it on top of the sink and called out ‘Sakurai-saaan’ in a terribly pathetic voice. Don’t whine like that—the only ones who can pull that off are cute anime girls.

“Jeez, what is it? My mood’s pretty bad right now…”

“Yeah, that’s it! That’s what I’m saying, seriously, your face looks freakin’ terrible right now! What happened??”

“… Nothing really.”

“Is that it?? Is it your girlfriend??”

“Eh… uh—”

“I totally nailed it, didn’t I! I pretty much guessed that the reason why Sakurai-san’s been in such a bad mood lately must be cuz of your girlfriend.”

“No, that’s not…”

“It kinda gave me the same feeling as before, when ya had to stay late for overtime ’til 10 at night.”

Ah… That was the day when I’d been so late that Ilias had cried while waiting at the ticket gate…

That’s right; back then, Ilias didn’t have a smartphone yet, so the thought of how I couldn’t get in touch with him had pressed on my mind. I had been anxious and worried, and desperately wanted to finish up already.

Though I’d tried not to let it show through my behavior, Mita had actually caught it… Are you kidding me, that’s so freakin’ humiliating…

“Is she turnin’ into a control freak? Or is she like, totally neglecting you?”

“What are you…?”

“Your girlfriend! You had a fight with her, yeah?”

“A fight… is it something like that… but I’m not the one who did anything wrong.”

“Oooh, how unusual. So what did your girlfriend do? Did she take your money and spend it all for herself?”

“Wait, what. Did that happen to you before?”

“Uhhhh… well, she kinda, took my credit card and…”

Mita, you’ve unexpectedly suffered, haven’t you…

Compared to that, what happened between me and Ilias was probably really minor. No, but, when I think about what happened today, I really have to think that Ilias was in the wrong. The fact that I could only just put up with what happened really pissed me off.

And finally, it’s because of what he did that I completely hadn’t been able to sleep. He rutted against my back as I slept, and then he started touching me even though I was still sleeping. That woke me up, and then I got pulled along by the flow and… yeah, it’s definitely all Ilias’s fault!

“So if it’s not money… what is it, sex?”

“Hack, cough, cough…!”

Just when I’d been spiraling down the path of frustration, Mita came and smacked me back to reality with those dead-on-center words. That I ended up choking was inevitable…

Mita’s mouth dropped open. The way he kept staring at me as I choked… really pissed me off! I don’t have problems getting sex, dumbass! But the reason why we haven’t gone all the way yet is because my partner is another man!

“Eeh, seriously?! Wait, what?! So Sakurai-san, you’re pent up?!”

“It’s the other way, idiot!”

“Eeeeh?! So you were attacked?! So she’s a carnivore?!?!”

“I decided to take the initiative for once, but I was rejected on account of the muscle training…”

“Muscle training?! Huh, that’s like, so powerful?! Just, what kinda stuff does your girlfriend…?”

“Keeps curling up doing a bunch of sit-ups.”

“Something like that’s fine, though.”

“Swings a 2-liter water bottle around for sword-wielding practice.”

“Sword-wielding practice?! Eh, what’s the point of that, to be a fencer?!”

“Also, goes running whenever I’m not around, too, it seems like.”

“Damn, that’s amazing… if she’s that disciplined, then rejecting ‘cuz she needs to work out is… well…”

“I’m not mad about getting rejected. What I’m mad about is that later I got attacked in my sleep, forcing me to have to wake up and get out of bed.”

“Uh…?”

“Even though I had to work the next day, we just kept going until morning!”

While I had been still sluggish from sleepiness, beside me, Ilias had grinned and said, “Last night, Azusa was truly so adorable.” Infuriating! And why the hell was he sleeping naked? It’s just too much to see Ilias’s naked torso laid out on the white sheets—that sight just has far too much destructive power. Even though I was only wearing underwear, too…!

And in that situation, for him to start spilling out all of those gushy words with that prince-like face of his… It made me completely flustered.

On top of all that, he followed me into the shower while I was washing my body…

I’d thought that I had already taken care of him after he’d started touching me in the dead of night. Yet even after I’d told him that I really didn’t have time to waste that morning, when I looked into the mirror and met Ilias’s gaze and his lust-filled face, he came to my ear and…

“I already said that I couldn’t anymore, so it’s not ‘still okay’! That violating demon…!”

Even just remembering it made me blush, and by trying to hide it I ended up leaning over and shouting into the sink.

Argh, it’s so embarrassing, and so shameful, but even despite that it still made me excited…! What am I, some kind of pervert…! I don’t agree to letting Ilias turn me into one, damn it…!!

Such were the thoughts running through my mind as I agonized over the activities Ilias and I had gotten up to from late last night to early this morning.

And of course, as to whether or not Mita who’d been standing next to me had noticed that I was blushing redder than I’d ever turned in my life… to sum it up: it goes without saying.

Posted in Novel Translations Picked up a Strange Knight and Tagged PSK