The next day, a sunny Saturday. Shiina Mahiru rang Mochizuki's doorbell early in the morning.
After waiting for a while, no one came to open the door.
Shiina had no choice but to take out the spare key Mochizuki had given her to open the door, guessing that Mochizuki might still be asleep.
She didn't expect the key to be useful so soon.
But since they had agreed to clean today, she couldn't indulge Mochizuki.
Moreover, given the state of Mochizuki's house, the cleaning task was arduous.
It had to be executed immediately.
"Excuse me," she whispered softly.
She went to Mochizuki's room.
The room was a bit cold because the air conditioner was set to a low temperature.
As expected, Mochizuki was tightly wrapped in his blanket, still deep in sleep.
"Mochizuki-kun, time to get up," Shiina gently shook Mochizuki.
"Hmm, huh?" Mochizuki reluctantly opened his sleepy eyes, looking at the girl with a bun in front of him, Yui Yuigahama?
No, her hair color was clearly different!
He stared blankly for another two seconds, looking at her cute face, and couldn't help but reach out a finger to pinch her cheek.
"Shiina?" Was he dreaming?
"Ah!" Shiina was startled by Mochizuki's sudden action and took a step back, but thankfully Mochizuki quickly withdrew his hand.
Mochizuki also realized something and immediately sat up wide awake.
"Eh? I'm not dreaming!"
"Mochizuki-kun, we agreed to clean today," Shiina, with her hair in a bun, said faintly, her cheeks slightly puffed out and her face a little flushed.
So it really was Shiina Mahiru.
"I'm sorry, Shiina, I didn't mean it just now," Mochizuki quickly apologized sincerely.
Shiina turned her head away, her face even redder.
"No, don't talk about what just happened~"
"I thought I was dreaming, that's why Shiina came so early."
"Hmph, does that mean Mochizuki-kun can just pinch girls' cheeks in his dreams?" Shiina pretended to be angry.
"Eh, no, no, Shiina, please don't be angry."
"I'm not angry, I'm just kidding. Get up quickly and clean, or I'll really get angry."
"Aye!" Mochizuki quickly finished washing up and came to the living room.
He found that Shiina had also brought him breakfast.
His vision gradually cleared.
Only then did he see Shiina's outfit for today clearly.
She was wearing khaki shorts.
Her snow-white calves, with just the right curve, were very eye-catching.
Her upper body was a black short-sleeved shirt, and she also put on a housekeeping apron, probably afraid of getting her clothes dirty.
Her unusual hairstyle, a bun, also exposed the girl's snow-white neck.
She looked full of motivation!
Furthermore, Shiina had already prepared various cleaning tools, including garbage bags, a broom, a mop, a feather duster, rags, buckets...
Mochizuki's house didn't have so many tools; she must have brought them from her home.
"You'll have to work after eating breakfast."
"Okay, Shiina, wait for me, I'll be quick."
Seeing Shiina about to start tidying up some clutter, Mochizuki felt embarrassed to eat while she worked.
"It's fine, I'll just put these away first, it's easy."
Soon, Mochizuki finished his breakfast...
"Aren't you going to change?" Shiina Mahiru asked Mochizuki, as he was wearing his usual casual clothes.
They could easily get dirty during the cleaning process.
"It's fine, I'll just throw them in the washing machine later."
Shiina sighed, feeling a bit helpless.
"Alright then."
"Now, you have to clean properly, no slacking off."
"Yes, sir, I'll follow all your commands!" Mochizuki replied seriously.
"Hmm, since you're calling me 'sir', I'll be very strict then."
"First, Mochizuki-kun, please sort your light novels and manga."
"Also, put your textbooks away properly.
Don't mix them up."
"There are also a lot of strange magazines, do you still read magazines?"
Mochizuki said he didn't read magazines; maybe they were left by the previous tenant.
He hadn't paid attention to them since he moved in, just left them where they were.
"Let's get rid of the magazines."
"Okay, put anything you don't want over here, and I'll do the garbage sorting."
"Okay." Mochizuki seriously sorted the books; although there were many, this task was relatively easy.
"Hmm, good, move the books into the room first, so they don't get wet later."
Shiina also sorted the garbage they had cleaned up so far and took it to the door first.
Then she helped Mochizuki move the books.
Next, the two of them moved various storage boxes outside the door first.
Mochizuki hadn't originally intended to do this, but Shiina said that if they were going to clean, they should clean thoroughly.
After this round of tidying, the living room looked much more spacious.
But there were many dust marks on the floor.
As the two of them moved around, a lot of dust kept rising.
"Cough... cough..." Mochizuki choked for a moment and started coughing.
"I didn't realize I've been living in such an environment."
"Yeah! You only just realized that!"
"Living in such an environment is not good for your health."
Mochizuki gave a sheepish smile.
Shiina opened all the doors and windows, trying to let some dust float out and reduce the dust indoors.
"Next is sweeping, right? Leave it to me!" Mochizuki held up the broom, ready to start.
"Okay, but wait a moment, sprinkle some water first, that way less dust will fly up."
"Okay." Shiina took out a watering can and sprinkled some water droplets everywhere in the room.
Seeming to see Mochizuki's confusion, Shiina explained.
"This is what I use for watering flowers."
"Oh! You're really well-prepared! As expected of Shiina."
"Of course."
After Shiina finished sprinkling the water, the two of them picked up the brooms, one starting from each side, and began sweeping the room.
Soon, the dust and some garbage in the corners were cleaned up.
Next was mopping, and Mochizuki volunteered to get the water ready.
Since there was only one mop, Shiina, on the grounds that she was more experienced, took charge of mopping and instructed Mochizuki to just wipe the windows clean.
Soon, Mochizuki finished wiping the windows; they weren't very dirty to begin with.
"Shiina, I'm done wiping," Mochizuki reported to Shiina.
"That fast? I'll check later, you know."
"Okay, no problem."
Mochizuki saw that the water in the bucket was a bit dirty, so he picked up the bucket and refilled it with clean water.
"Just mop it again with clean water."
"Let me do it this time." Without waiting for a reply, Mochizuki quickly took the mop; he couldn't let Shiina do everything.
Shiina looked at her empty hands, "Hmm, okay."
Shiina then picked up a rag, preparing to wipe the tables and chairs clean.
But just as she stood up, she slipped forward, Shiina panicked a little and instinctively closed her eyes.
After all, the floor had just been mopped and was still very wet.
Seeing Shiina's face about to hit the ground.
"Ah..." "Oh..." "Bang."
Several different sounds rang out almost simultaneously, there was the sound of the mop falling.
There was Shiina Mahiru's cry, Mochizuki's cry, and the sound of the two of them falling.
It was Mochizuki who managed to grab Shiina Mahiru in time.
This prevented Shiina Mahiru from feeling the pain she expected, she opened her eyes and understood what had happened.
She asked anxiously, "I'm sorry, Mochizuki-kun, you're not hurt, are you?"
Mochizuki felt his butt hurt a bit, but it was nothing serious.
"I'm fine, but you're not hurt, are you?"
"I'm not hurt, I'm sorry, it was all my fault for being too careless."
"No need to apologize! You're helping me clean here!
If you got hurt, I'd feel really bad."
Shiina Student, why aren't you getting up!
At this moment, a large part of Shiina Mahiru's weight was supported by Mochizuki.
Mochizuki could even feel the softness of the girl's body.
But Shiina seemed completely unaware of the distance between them, as if she didn't care.
And because they were so close, Mochizuki could even smell Shiina's scent.
"Are you really not hurt? The sound of the fall was really loud."
"I'm fine."
Mochizuki gently pushed Shiina's shoulders with both hands, helped Shiina up, and then stood up himself.
"Be careful from now on."
"Okay."
Seeing that Mochizuki was really fine, Shiina finally felt relieved.
The slow-to-realize Shiina suddenly became aware of something.
The back of her ears were already bright red at this moment, and because of today's hairstyle, there was no hair to cover them, making her look quite cute.
She secretly glanced at Mochizuki, but unfortunately, Mochizuki was looking down, wringing the mop, and didn't notice.
"Speaking of which, Shiina is always falling. She even hurt her leg last time," Mochizuki said to Shiina in a teasing tone.
"Ugh, don't talk about it, it's too embarrassing."
Perhaps she was afraid that Mochizuki would notice her expression.
Shiina picked up the rag and quickly turned around to go to the sink.