The touch that irritated

The light blinked. First time a sound of a shutter clicking played from the phone and the second time the light turned off.

"... Stop!" Kyouko lunged her fingers towards the phone.

"I don't intend to." Keta pulled away, before she could grasp it in her slimy fingers.

"Your life here, is over." He murmured, calmly swiping through his phone.

"And who decides that?" Kyouko's teeth gritted, her eyes narrowed upwards. "If anything, it'd be you who's over..!" She spat.

"You are wrong." Keta's fingers froze, his eyes tilting below. The phone stayed in his other hand, the screen still on.

The air around Keta remained unfazed. Kyouko observed no sign of panic or fear.

"... Delete that." A lowly whisper arose.

"Hm?"

"Delete that!" Kyouko's hair wriggled downwards, sinking into the liquid.

"..!" She recoiled back, "ugh!"

Keta simply sighed as she pushed a chair into the mess. "Who's gonna clean that?" He asked.

".. eh?" Her jaw dropped. "... Clean? Clean what?"

"That." Keta's index finger rose horizontally, pointing towards the chair behind her. Kyouko's eyes blinked, neck struggling to turn behind.

"What's it now? You got a neck-pain, too?" Keta twitched his eyes, instantly noticing it. The cause of this, was obvious.

"It's... " Her chest hitched in the rhythm of her breathing.

"I-I was—"

"Anyway— what about this mess now? And all the rice that was wasted?" Keta interjected, switching the topic abruptly.

To this, Kyouko's lips curled up again.

"That's totally an acc—" Her voice stuttered in between. She coughed.

"A woman-made accident." Keta threw the waterbottle at her chest.

"Ah!" She gasped hoarsely, "Be more gentle!"

SWIPE. A slimy sound echoed as she tried to hold the bottle in hand.

"My hands are all oily, I need—"

"And whose fault do you think that is?" Keta lunged below, careful not to fall over and make a awkward moment.

"O-O-Ow!" Kyouko's fingers squirmed, held by Keta's iron-fist.

"You don't realise the gravity of this, do you?" Keta locked his eyes into hers, dimming the light reaching them further.

"..huh?" Kyouko snarled, despite being gripped at a sensitive place, she knew her words.

They both stared at each other, for a few moments. "You don't, then." Keta pulled back.

"Yes I don't!" Kyouko observed his stance and pulled back the moment he'd gotten up a little.

Another chair toppled over, and a sharp cracking echoed. It was a hairclip that was caught between chair's foot and the slimy liquid. Keta observed it faster than Kyouko.

"Then let me enlighten you." He began, stepping back.

"Everything you're possessing in this house, are all bought from my money." Kyouko grunted at his words, a small slick of sweat slipped from her forehead. Keta continued, " —Even the food you just wasted, the dress you dirtied, and the hairclips you broke—"

"What? My hairclips?" Kyouko squealed interrupting him suddenly, her face became pale and her hair felt lighter than earlier.

"You just noticed?" Keta bent towards the edge, "They weren't even brittle.. " he heard Kyouko's hoarse whisper in his ear.

"They wouldn't be, unless someone repeatedly thrashed it." Keta sprinkled them on her head.

"Here you go." He said, "Adding that, the total is 27,768¥." He added. Kyouko's eyes widened, not at the number but at the tone.

"Are you sure?" She asked, making a bold expression.

"I am—"

"Not your calculations. Are you sure, you'll get it? I mean, my parents aren't that rich and.." she circled the tip of her finger into the water.

Keta stayed quiet.

"Weren't you gasping for air until now?" He asked, observing her facials.

Kyouko remained unfazed to this question, her eyes focused on getting on her two legs.

"Anyway, " Keta nodded, understanding the gesture of ignorance, "You'll reimburse this, within a week."

A single tap echoed. "Eh?" Kyouko's voice never stuttered. Her jaw hung open again, her eyes widened towards him.

Her fingers rose, slowly towards her chest.

"... seriously?"

Only one word broke the silence between them.

"For starters, you can also pay me instalments." However Keta's ignorance completely shattered it.

The light flickered. "Impossible. I'm jobless. Penniless, at the least." Kyouko smirked, fully standing up and able to step foot on the floor.

"What's your age?"

"Huh?" Kyouko turned, unexpectedly a weird feeling came over her.

"24... What do you want to do—"

"Twenty-five precisely." Keta corrected her, eyes dropping to his phone.

".. where did you get that? Anyway, yeah. I'm 25, barely though."

"And you're telling me, that you, an adult of 25, is penniless. Jobless, is still a common phenomenon but penniless? I mean you've got so many followers, why not start a blog or do youtube maybe? I'm sure—"

"I can't. What if they don't like me? And, there're weirdos everywhere in the internet. What if I end up getting stalked, just like Hashimoto-san?"

Kyouko's words made a little sense to Keta. Ofcourse, that's a valid concern.

"But anyway, I don't care if you even steal it. I want my money back."

"Wha— Are you deaf? I can—"

"Then return your clothes." He tugged at her sleeves, it wasn't slimy. Kyouko recoiled.

"Wash it before you do." He ignored kyouko's glaring eyes.

"Watch your language! I'm a—"

"— A woman." Keta interjected, persisting in his act. Though he was pulling rather playfully— atleast that's what it seemed like.

"You've got three pairs of your own." He adjusted the sleeves, away from the fluids crawling on her skin.

"But I— I love this!"

"Then pay. Because I need it—"

SLAP.

"You sloth! Can't you just work harder instead of whining!" She reddened Keta's cheeks, pushing to the sink.

"..!" Keta barely missed the pointed edge of the tap from penetrating his neck. His fingers slightly trembled— "... Sure."

"Huh...huh...huh.." Kyouko's lips firmly closed, her eyes darted around his shirt.

"Sell that. That's gucci, right? It'd make you a lot of money!" She yelled, eyes watery towards him.

"..hm." Keta nodded. No matter how he looked expressionless, internally the slap was instilled in him.

"And oh! I forgot your backpack! That'll fetch you a few hundred bucks!" Kyouko continued to rant, pointing in the air, the items she mentioned.

"... The casio watch!" Keta heard her voice, it was a different tone.

"Someone you gifted you that, right? Sell that! It's bound to be atleast a thousand yen!"

The rest of her voice faded in his ear. Keta started to reject her voice. Her gaze. Her movements that flashed in his eyes.

... Sure.