Chapter 6 – Not Cute Anymore
Chapter 1, Part 4
Novel Title: 融愛~Melt Down~ (Melted Love ~Melt Down~)
Author:風結子 沙野 (Fuyuko Sano)
Illustrator:雅良 水名瀬 (Masara Minase)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 葉越海理 (Yougoshi Kairi -MC), 葉越翼久 (Yougoshi Tasuku -ML)
*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*
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The firm, glossy curly noodles were well coated in the soy sauce-based broth. The generous amount of chopped green onions was refreshing on the stomach. The soft leaves of boiled Chinese cabbage naturally found their way into his mouth with the noodles, releasing a subtle sweetness when bitten. The boiled egg, cut in half, was soft-boiled just the way Kairi liked it. The char siu was thinly sliced, only one piece, likely because Tasuku had considered that it might be too heavy on Kairi’s stomach.
As they sat across from each other, noisily slurping their ramen, a distant memory surfaced.
――We used to sit like this every night, shoving cup noodles into our mouths.
Tasuku must have been thinking of that time too.
“Hey, remember? There was a time when you couldn’t eat ramen. Do you recall that?”
“Yeah. When I was in elementary school. We ate those cheap cup noodles from the supermarket on sale every day for so long that I got sick of ramen for a while.”
“Yeah, yeah! Just passing by the ramen shop in the shopping street made you nauseous from the smell. You even threw up just from looking at the fake ramen display in front of the shop! What a rude kid you were—talk about disturbing their business.”
“Don’t talk about gross stuff while we’re eating. Even now, I’m more sensitive than you.”
Kairi frowned as he responded to his brother, who was grinning while reminiscing.
As he bit into the crunchy bamboo shoots, the phone on the corner of the dining table, plugged into the charger, began to vibrate. Glancing at the display, he saw that it was from Naofumi. Casually, Kairi shifted his body to conceal his expression from Tasuku as he answered the call.
“Tokiya-san, thank you for earlier…”
“Did you get home safely?”
“Yes, I arrived about thirty minutes ago.”
“I see. Glad to hear that. See you at work on Monday. Good night.”
“Good night.”
As Kairi hung up the phone, he felt a complex mix of emotions. Naofumi had never called to check if he had gotten home safely before. Somehow, it felt like the kiss had changed the dynamic between them, silently signalling that their relationship had reached a new level of intimacy.
If he let things proceed this way, it could lead to trouble.
But was it really just because Naofumi was a senior at work that Kairi had been unable to refuse a kiss from another man?
There was something unresolved, like a hook pulling at the edge of his heart.
“The guy you’re working with on that job—is that Tokiya?”
“Yeah… Wait, are you smoking again?”
Kairi lifted himself from his chair and reached over, pulling the cigarette from Tasuku’s mouth. As he did, Tasuku’s lips peeled back slightly, revealing the delicate, pale pink of his inner lip—so innocent in colour it seemed out of place on someone as veteran as him. It was like looking at freshly peeled fruit. A brief sensation, like a thin electric current, shot down Kairi’s neck before disappearing.
“You’re smoking too much. You’ve definitely increased your intake.”
He stubbed the cigarette out in the bent aluminium ashtray.
With a sulky look, Tasuku slumped his bare upper body onto the blue table. His light brown eyes peered up through his messy bangs.
“Yeah. Well, I’ve been feeling really unstable lately.”
“Your only strength is how thick-skinned you are.”
Kairi cut down his brother’s cutesy plea without hesitation, which made Tasuku chuckle, feeling amused.
Kairi couldn’t help but join in the laughter.
After tidying up the dishes, Kairi headed to the bedroom. Tasuku was lying face down on the double bed, engrossed in a car magazine, dog-earing the beige pages. In the underground parking lot of their building, Tasuku had his Ferrari Testarossa and a Volvo V70 wagon. But he was probably planning to get another car, likely funded by one of his clients.
Truthfully, in this rather average apartment, Tasuku and his expensive cars stood out. But since Tasuku paid for the parking fees and they split only the rent, Kairi didn’t have much room to complain.
Tasuku’s host mindset—where he thought nothing of getting women to spend large sums on him—was something Kairi, with his strict approach to money, found hard to tolerate or understand.
Kairi slid the closet door open and pulled out his futon.
He laid the futon parallel to the bed on the hardwood floor. Tasuku, sounding sluggish, spoke up. “Isn’t it a hassle to keep taking out and putting away the futon? Why don’t you just sleep here? It’s a double bed, after all.”
“Two grown men sharing a bed? That’d be weird. And who was it that got rid of my bed and turned the room into a gym?”
They had chosen a 2LDK apartment specifically to each have their own room. But that plan had been tossed out the window. Though, in fairness, Kairi had been too soft to reclaim his room after Tasuku’s power play.
“When we were kids, we used to cuddle up and sleep on the same futon.” Tasuku, conveniently ignoring the more awkward parts of the conversation, pursed his lips in protest.
“Yeah. But back then, you were as cute as an angel.”
Even without brotherly bias, Tasuku had been adorably cute up until middle school—often mistaken for a girl, with his curled, chestnut hair and round, innocent eyes. His small frame had ignited in Kairi a fierce desire to protect him.
But then, in high school, Tasuku had shot up like a weed, quickly overtaking Kairi in height. His once-fair skin had grown perpetually sun-kissed.
“I can’t believe my precious little caterpillar turned into…an ugly moth,” Kairi muttered as he arranged his pillow.
Tasuku sat up in bed.
“I’m a full-blown butterfly now. A night butterfly.”
“Butterflies rest at night. It’s moths that stay up.”
“…”
Kairi sighed as he looked up at his brother.
“You really grew into one oversized, un-cute person. It’s hard to believe you used to fit so perfectly in my arms.”
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*Translator’s Note: Kairi, soon you’ll be the one fit in his arms. -K
*GLOSSARY:
- Onii-san / Onii-chan / Nii-san / Nii-chan / Aniki = (Big/Elder) Brother
☝🏻I’ll be using these throughout my translation.
- In Japan, a 2LDK apartment refers to a layout with two separate rooms, a living room (L), a dining area (D), and a kitchen (K). The ‘2’ indicates the number of individual rooms that can be used as bedrooms or other spaces, while LDK describes the combined living, dining, and kitchen area. This classification is a common way to describe apartment sizes in Japan, and the numbers can vary, like 1LDK (one room) or 3LDK (three rooms), giving a clear idea of the apartment’s structure. These abbreviations make it easy to understand how many separate rooms there are and whether there’s a shared area for living, dining, and cooking.
Next update: 2025.01.01