Checking Out at 5:15 PM Chapter 11: Souvlaki and Heavy Hearts (Patreon)

(Motoi’s Perspective)

“I never would have thought there was a place like this around here.”

“Well, no one really thinks about going to City Hall just to eat lunch,” I replied, taking a seat on the wooden bench.

“What about the staff?” Yui asked, carefully sitting down beside me.

“There are Black Kites everywhere. Most of the staff prefer to eat indoors to avoid the hassle.”

“Ahh...”

Hearing my answer, Yui nodded, her eyes scanning the quiet, secluded courtyard. Despite her popularity as an author—which meant she would have to get used to crowds—she clearly still wasn’t good with them. Seeing this pure, unpretentious spot hidden right in front of the library, completely free of loud tourists and chaos, left her in a stunned, peaceful daze.

It was just the two of us, sitting on a shaded bench beneath a large concrete overhang.

“This spot is different from the open park, though,” I said, leaning back and resting my shoulders against the cool stone wall. “The architectural overhang covers the walkway. As long as we sit with our backs to the wall, our bentos are protected from the birds.”

Beware the Black Kites (Tobi).

It was the one absolute, unbreakable rule of eating outdoors in Kamakura. The nearby Shonan coast was infamous for these massive birds of prey. They were highly intelligent, completely silent when diving, and specialized in snatching meat or fried food straight out of a tourist's hand before their brain could even register the theft.

The wall protected our food, but honestly, it also served a much better purpose: I could finally relax. Maintaining perfect posture at the front desk all day was exhausting. I desperately wanted to cross my legs and put my feet up on the bench while I ate, but as a working adult and a civil servant in public, I had to maintain at least a shred of dignity.

Yup. Being a responsible adult was troublesome.

“Hmm...”

Beside me, Yui let out a soft sigh, shifting her weight.

Unlike me, she didn't have good posture. She was constantly slouching, hanging her head low in an attempt to hide her identity—and to hide the two incredibly heavy, lush fruits resting on her chest.

But gravity was a ruthless master, and hiding them was physically exhausting. Sitting perfectly straight was tough when her breasts were so immense that they actively gave her backaches. As a man, I understood the universal appeal of a generous chest, and I knew she was constantly subjected to lewd stares. Finding a bra that actually fit her had to be a nightmare, and incredibly expensive.

Thank God her books sold millions of copies, bringing in massive royalties; otherwise, the sheer cost of supporting herself might have bankrupted her.

As she leaned back against the wall to rest, her oversized cardigan fell open slightly.

Damn it.

I gritted my teeth, desperately forcing my eyes to stare straight ahead at the courtyard. My gaze wasn’t appropriate, yet I just couldn’t help it. No matter how serious I tried to be, in the end, I was still a healthy man. My eyes were drawn to the sheer, plush softness pressing against her thin shirt like steel to a magnet, or like an apple falling to the earth due to gravity. It was a biological inevitability.

If I keep getting distracted like this, could I even consider dating someone?

My mind briefly flashed to my earlier, dangerous thoughts about Misaki, my boss. My will, my body, and my heart were nowhere near as firm as I liked to pretend. I was constantly being tempted—whether it was by beautiful, mature housewives around me, my strict boss in a damp white shirt, or this incredibly gorgeous writer sitting right next to me, trying in vain to hide her lewd, incredible body under frumpy clothes.

If I eventually chose a woman to give my heart to, I wanted to see it through to the end, completely faithful, even if the result wasn't what I hoped for. But for now, my feelings were a mess, and I wasn’t in a rush. I just wanted to enjoy the peaceful civil servant life I had worked so hard to achieve.

Still, my face was burning hot. I needed to calm down.

I grabbed my plastic bottle of cold green tea. The condensation wet my palm as I twisted the cap off and took a long, sharp drink. The bitter astringency of the tea washed down my throat, finally cooling my racing thoughts.

“Shall we eat, Amami-san?”

“Yes,” Yui nodded softly.

She knew I had a strict time limit for my break, so we quietly opened our bento boxes.

“This is really good,” Yui murmured, her eyes widening as she took a bite of her sweet tamagoyaki.

“Right?”

Despite the owner’s bizarre obsession with the Greek Pantheon, the food he cooked was undeniably incredible. I certainly didn’t just go there because his beautiful wife, Kana-nee, occasionally leaned too far forward over the counter. (Though I really was starting to wonder if she gave me those tantalizing glimpses of her cleavage on purpose).

I pushed the sinful thoughts aside and bit into my souvlaki. The savory, incredibly juicy roasted chicken thigh instantly melted in my mouth, pairing perfectly with the thick, tart garlic-and-cucumber yogurt sauce.

Yup. Absolutely delicious.

“What’s wrong, Amami-san?” I paused, feeling the distinct weight of Yui’s gaze burning into the side of my face.

“A-Ah, n-no...!” Yui panicked, her shoulders jumping as she realized she had been caught staring.

“Don’t worry,” I chuckled. “Are you just curious about how this tastes?”

“Well... is the souvlaki good?”

She had chosen the orthodox, standard Japanese menu. While she was clearly enjoying it, the exotic smell of the roasted Greek chicken was definitely tempting her.

“Do you want to try a piece?”

Without really thinking about the implications, I picked up a juicy piece of chicken with my chopsticks, coated it in the thick yogurt sauce, and casually held it out toward her lips. “Here. Open your mouth.”

“...............”

The moment the words left my mouth, time seemed to freeze. I realized the catastrophic mistake I had just made. This was an incredibly intimate gesture. Yui wasn’t some casual drinking buddy, nor was she someone I had had an intimate gesture with in the past.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I should—”

Before I could pull my hand back, Yui leaned forward. Her soft, glossy lips parted, and she gently took the piece of chicken directly from my chopsticks. The wood brushed against her tongue before she pulled back, chewing slowly.

“It’s really good,” she whispered, a deep crimson blush spreading rapidly across her pale cheeks. “The yogurt sauce... It’s nice.”

I stared at her, completely stunned. But since she didn't scream or slap me for being overly familiar, I swallowed hard and tried to act natural. “R-Right?”

“Do you... want to try my Severed Limb of Karkinos, Motoi-san?”

“Is that really okay?”

“Yeah.”

With trembling fingers, Yui picked up the massive, golden-fried ebi furai with her own chopsticks. She leaned in close, the faint scent of vanilla drifting from her collar, and held it up to my mouth.

I parted my lips and took a bite. The breading was incredibly crispy, giving way to the sweet, hot shrimp inside.

As I chewed, an unbidden memory flashed through my mind.

Aoi.

My former girlfriend from university. We had broken up amicably right after graduation because we chose completely different paths in life. Instead of the path of least resistance, like me, she chose the brutal, cutthroat corporate path where work was life, and nothing else mattered.

Did I regret letting her go? Maybe. Maybe not. But I knew I couldn't become the fiercely ambitious man she wanted me to be. Instead of slowly growing to hate each other in a deeply exhausting relationship, we cut the cord early.

I wonder what she is doing, I thought silently, but when I thought of her personality, she might be able to move on pretty easily, and focus on her job and ambition, which I should do the same, too.

Relationship.

If I have to say, this was a pretty difficult problem, and I couldn’t say that I was good with it, but like many others, I wished to be happy, and I truly hoped that whoever I ended up choosing would be the one I stayed with for the rest of my life.

Probably, this dream of mine sounded incredibly naive, as I knew that the relationship wasn’t as easy as it looked to be, and it wasn’t as beautiful as it looked, especially when one became an adult, which made me laugh inwardly. I was a grown man, yet I was still dreaming like a kid.

But hey, if Luffy could dream of finding the One Piece, and Naruto could dream of becoming Hokage, my dream of a peaceful, faithful marriage seemed pretty attainable, right?

I focused back on the present.

I had to admit, the ebi furai tasted infinitely more delicious when being fed to me by a breathtakingly beautiful woman.

“It’s delicious. Thank you, Amami-san.”

“Yeah...”

(Yui’s Perspective)

Yui sat perfectly still on the bench, her heart hammering so violently against her ribs that she was terrified Motoi could hear it.

She stared down at the wooden chopsticks in her trembling hand.

He just fed me.

Not only that, but he had used his own chopsticks. And then, she had used her chopsticks to feed him.

It was an indirect kiss. An incredibly blatant, undeniably intimate, indirect kiss.

While Motoi turned his attention back to his bento, chewing happily as if nothing world-altering had just happened, Yui felt like she was going to spontaneously combust. Her skin was burning, and her breathing was dangerously shallow.

She slowly raised her chopsticks back toward her face. Staring at the wooden tips that had just been inside Motoi’s mouth, she parted her soft lips.

Almost subconsciously, she slipped the tips of the chopsticks into her mouth, her tongue gently swiping over the smooth wood where his lips had touched.

A heavy, sweet heat pooled deep in her stomach.

Delicious.