"Nnn," my voice is working, but that sounded more like a cat than a human. Was I a cat in a previous life? Perhaps.
"Toshiro, stop making weird noises, I'm trying to sleep here."
"Are you saying my voice sounds weird, like a cat or something?"
"What?"
"Sorry, that was a strange thing to ask." As my eyes adjust to the morning light, I notice that my body is no longer on the couch, but on the floor instead. In fact, Natsuko magically switched places with me and is now resting peacefully across the length of the couch. Somehow I must have slid down from there onto the floor, and she took the opportunity to claim it for herself, which is not wrong in any case. Then Yuki would be….
"Morning--" she says, rubbing her eyes. Obviously, she's in the physically awkward position where her head is on the couch, but the rest of her body is stretched over the side and on the floor. How she falls asleep like that is life's greatest mystery--
"Gah!" I react as her head plops onto my stomach. After a moment of giggling from her, I start to get up. "Morning Yuki, you're very energetic already, even after going to sleep so late." I finally get myself to my feet, with no help from Yuki whatsoever.
There isn't really much that I could think of to do today….which is not a good thing.
Because that usually means there really is something big I have to do.
Like I know that Megumi and Ryota are planning to come later today, so that's something. But not a large responsibility, just having them over, chatting, playing games and stuff. Maybe ordering a meal -- or cooking a meal perhaps, since they are both good cooks. The cooking club they joined when we were first years has been a source of flavorful bliss during the cultural festivals.
"Hm….maybe we should go get some snacks for them too," I quietly mumble, walking towards the kitchen. My foot touches a candy wrapper, which I casually bend down to pick up. Now to put it in the trash, as my other foot now meets an empty bottle.
"Huh…." Curiously, I kick the bottle, and as it skids across the hall, a cloud of dust is left in its tracks. A lot of dust. The bottle ends up in the kitchen, where the sink is filled with last night's dishes and pots. The same disordered nature could be said about our rooms as well. "That's the problem."
This house is a mess! Suddenly, I remember how all three of us have put back cleaning the place for some time, and putting back even further -- then forgetting about it entirely at times.
They can't see the place like this!
"So, that's how it's going to be." Great, this Sunday has suddenly become a lot busier.
+++++
"As you may have noticed, this house is a big mess, so much so that it is borderline uninhabitable," I start, with Natsuko and Yuki at the table, munching on some convenience store breakfast. "And later today, Ryota and Megumi are visiting, and it'd be nice to tidy things up for them."
"Ah, Ryo-kun and Megumi-chan are coming!" Yuki shouts excitedly.
"That'll be a good time….not cleaning though," Natusko slumps.
"I know, but it's about time--actually the place is overdue for cleaning. We can first start with our rooms, then I'll start with the rest of the house while you two finish up."
The two of them turn to each other, then face me with equally intense pouts. "Are you saying it takes us longer to clean our room because we're slow?'"
"Or our rooms are more messy?"
"I said what I said."
"Oh it's on--" Natsuko replies, getting up from the table and running to their room.
"Yeah!" Yuki exclaims, jumping off her seat and running (albeit at a slower speed) in the same direction. Chuckling slightly, I finish breakfast, throw away their trash and head towards my room. Once I open the door, the view inside brings a smile to my face.
Neat and organized.
Sure, I'm going to struggle for the next number of hours cleaning the rest of the house, but my room, my sanctuary, is kept tidy.
That and I had some time yesterday after figuring out the bills to clean up.
So, what was the reason for coming back to my room if it's already clean? Was it just to admire the cleanliness of my own room before the work of washing the rest of the house starts?
Maybe. But I do need help, and if I remember correctly, there is something in that box that could help.
Inside the box I go, and near where I found the cookbook is a smaller booklet, labeled "Household tasks", but this time it was Dad's handwriting. Lo and behold, cleaning the house is one of the sections, as well as laundry.
There's just one problem: since the pages seem to radiate efficiency, it only lists the stuff I need for each quantitatively….not really the detailed instructions like Mom did. Well, that sounds like Dad in a pinch. "Better than nothing."
First thing to do is start the laundry so it's at least running while we do everything else.
"Wait, this tells me how much I should use detergent I should use? This would've helped so much!"
+++++
[Quick flashback 2 weeks ago]
Well, let's try out laundry….the instructions on this bottle somehow faded away, but it has lines on the cup. I guess the more one uses, the cleaner? And the top line says "MAX," so as long as it's under that it should be good.
"Ok, this is not bad." There goes my laundry, which is finally getting lighter since it's not cold anymore.
Fifteen minutes later….
"Toshiro!! The laundry machine's getting bubbles everywhere!!!"
"It looks fun!!"
"What!"
+++++
We've already been through the trial and error period for laundry….this would have been nice to know.
Moving on, laundry is one of those household tasks that has a learning curve of like two uses. And since the average Japanese family actually does laundry almost every day of the week, it's more of a type of daily hygiene task than a weekly chore.
But everything else on this list, like cleaning the floors, dusting the shelves, washing the bathroom and kitchen, are going to be new experiences.
"Kitchen first."
So, sponge and dishwashing soap. Time to wash everything in the sink, pretty much everything I used to cook yesterday's dinner.
The cutting board, knives, bowls, and pot I used for the chicken stock weren't very dirty, so using only a little soap is enough to clean them.
The pot with the curry, however, is a different story. The curry hardened overnight, and with a first scrub barely anything was coming out.
"Time for more soap and water." I squeeze the bottle, and a lot more soap comes out than I originally expected, forming a pool of it in the pot. The rest of the dishes can be washed in here too since there's so much soap. And that curry should definitely scrub away now.
I scrub more forcefully, and in less than a minute, the dried-on curry starts to fall off the pot. It's working!
Of course while this is happening, I neglected the bubble level, which quickly overflowed the pot and is now taking up the entire volume of the sink.
Oh boy.
A few minutes later, I take the pot out of the soap-consumed sink and it looks very clean! So do the rest of the dishes.
"I guess I'll let the bubbles slowly dissipate while I work on the rest of the kitchen."
Next is to clean the countertops with a cleaner. Dad puts a star on this step to make sure not to use harsh chemicals without rinsing afterward or it might contaminate the food in the future. Yeah that's about all the notes for this step.
Ah….I might have used too much water in the rinsing step. It'll dry later.
"We're done!" Yuki proclaims, bouncing down the steps. Natusko follows her, holding a trash bag.
"Good job, the things left are the living room, bathroom, and floors in general."
"I call not doing the bathroom!" says Natsuko.
"Me too! But we can do the floors!"
Looks like I'm stuck with the bathroom.
+++++
"Done….phew." I exhale. "But it may take a while for everything to dry."
"Yeah….and I'm pooped." Natusko admits, sinking into the chair.
"Hehe, poop," Yuki giggles.
"Good thing the leftover curry was there as our lunch, or we might still be working now." We managed to finish cleaning everything, but it's already mid-afternoon. I wonder where Ryoto and Megumi are, maybe not coming in another few hours.
My phone goes off, and this time it's Megumi.
Megumi: Hello Toshiro-kun! Sorry I didn't get to message you yesterday. After the date with Ryoto, I went home and fell asleep! How's everything going?
Me: It's going well, we just finished cleaning the house, so everything's wet. You two were thinking of coming over, so the place might not be ready just yet, but the girls are really excited to see you.
Megumi: Oh no! Your place isn't ready yet?
Me: Yeah, like the bathroom and stuff too. When are you two planning to come?
Megumi: Actually….
Suddenly, I hear the doorbell ring.
Megumi: We're already here (oops)
Oh.
"Is that them?" Natsuko asks.
"Yep. C'mon, let's greet them." We get up and slowly make our way down the wet hallway, which I managed to slip and fall multiple times over.
Unlocking the door, I open it wide to see my two best friends on the other side. Ryoto's about a good five centimeters taller than me, with a slightly messy red-orange hair. Standing next to him is Megumi, short black hair, and--hold on her eyes are getting watery.
Ryoto makes his signature smirk. "Yo, Toshiro! Hope we weren't interrupting anyth--"
"Toshiro-kun!" Megumi runs forward and wraps me in a big hug. Five seconds in and her emotions are leaving tears on my shirt, so I reciprocate the hug.
"Good to see you too Megumi," I chuckle. "I'm alright, honest." A couple of sniffles later, she slowly nods her head.
"Ah, don't leave me hanging here!" Ryoto laughs, getting in on the hug.
"Careful, you'll squish your girlfriend here," I warn lightheartedly. A few giggles could now be heard from her.
"Okay, big family hug time!" Natsuko shouts, joining in as well.
"Hug!" Yuki yells, but decides to jump into the hug, causing us to lose balance. Fortunately, the one on the bottom of the pile is Ryoto, and he takes the brunt of the impact. We all start laughing.
Megumi's the first to speak. "Well, if your place is still not ready, want to visit the city?"