That morning's sun looked determined to make the house shine—or maybe it was just trying to expose dust that had been gathering there since the Edo period. Who knew?
Harumi stretched her sore arms, took a deep breath, and announced:
"Today… is REAL cleaning day!"
Takeru raised an eyebrow.Mei took an enormous bite of watermelon.Izumi sighed in quiet despair.
"Harumi… you said that yesterday. And the day before that too…"
"But this time I am SERIOUSLY committed!" Harumi said, pounding her chest—which successfully sent a cloud of dust into the air."Today we will do what every responsible adult does when moving into a new place: pretend we know what we're doing and improvise as we go."
Mei raised her tiny hand.
"Haru… what does 'impro… that thing' mean?"
"It means you have no idea what's happening, but you keep going with confidence."
"Oh! That's you."
"Exactly," Harumi said proudly.
Takeru sighed, picked up an old notebook and a pen.
"So… what's the plan?"
"The plan is: House Map! We're counting all the rooms properly!"
"Didn't we already do that?" Izumi asked.
"Yes, but I messed everything up," Harumi admitted."I even counted the same bedroom four times."
Takeru placed the notebook on the table.
"Alright. Let's start with the first floor."
Harumi raised a finger, deadly serious.
"First: four bedrooms!"
Takeru wrote it down.Mei drew a square with a smiley face.Izumi yawned.
"Second: two bathrooms!"
"One doesn't count," Takeru said.
"Of course it counts!"
"It doesn't have a door."
"It counts emotionally!" Harumi snapped back.
Izumi rested her head on the table."Ah yes. The emotional bathroom."
Harumi ignored her.
"Third: a kitchen!"
"Yes, we've seen that," Takeru said, pointing to the sink—half of it was clean, the other half completely forgotten.
"Fourth: a GIANT living room! Like… big enough for me to dance anime choreographies without hitting anything!"
Mei clapped happily.Izumi covered her face.
"And FIFTH!" Harumi threw the doors open dramatically."The veranda bigger than my future!"
And it really was big.And full of weeds.And probably full of unknown life forms.
Takeru closed the door immediately.
"Okay. Now the second floor," he said."Harumi… why have we been avoiding going up there since we arrived?"
Harumi swallowed.
"It's not that I was avoiding it… I was just prioritizing the livable areas."
"So upstairs is unlivable?"
"Not entirely. Just… 95%."
Takeru looked at Izumi.Izumi looked at the staircase door.The staircase door stared back with strong horror-movie energy.
But they went up anyway.
And instantly—
POF
A shower of dust fell right onto Harumi's face.
"AAAA— cough cough—AAAAA—chooooo!!!"
"Bless you," Mei said, holding her hand.
"Thank you, sweetheart… I think my nose just detached from my face."
And so they began counting rooms.
"Seven bedrooms," Takeru said after opening creaky doors that sounded like old men full of regret.
"SEVEN?!" Harumi yelled."Who lived here, an idol school?"
"Four bathrooms," Izumi added."But only two of them look… minimally alive."
"And look, a TV room!" Harumi clapped."If there were a sofa, it'd be perfect!"
"Haru… that TV is a tube TV."
"Retro! Vintage! Style!"
In the end, they found a different room.Small, with an old desk, peeling paint, and the smell of ancient books.
"I think this used to be an office…" Harumi murmured, touching the desk.
"Then now it's 'the room nobody enters until we clean it,'" Takeru declared.
And the cleaning began.
Harumi looked like a cleaning warrior fighting for the survival of civilization.
First, she gathered ALL the old clothes and moldy blankets into one massive pile.
"This weighs about 500 kilos," she said, dragging the enormous bag.
"You shouldn't carry that," Takeru warned.
"I'm an adult," Harumi replied—tripping over her own foot.
During the process, she:
swept so hard it looked like she was summoning a tornado;removed dust from places no human should ever reach;cleaned windows from the inside, from the outside, and from parallel dimensions;cleaned the office, then remembered she was allergic to mold and sneezed fifteen times in a row;used a miracle cleaning product that erased all the mold but made her arms tingle like she'd fought an octopus.
"HAHAHA!" she laughed—unhinged, yet victorious."MOLD DOES NOT DEFEAT ME!"
"Harumi," Takeru said calmly,"the mold very clearly defeated you."
"Shh… let me have this moment."
Meanwhile, Mei sat on the veranda drawing and eating watermelon,and Izumi questioned every life choice that had led her there.
At the agreed time:
"Takeru, you're making lunch!"
"What?! Why me?!"
"Because if I cook right now, I will faint into the pot."
Takeru made rice, eggs, and simple miso soup.The meal turned out surprisingly good.
Harumi ate like she was at an imperial banquet.
Then they went back to cleaning until—
THE ENTIRE HOUSE WAS CLEAN.
Not "kind of clean."Not "clean but with emotional dust."
CLEAN.
Harumi threw a rag onto the floor dramatically.
"I WON!"
Takeru crossed his arms.
"We still have to wash twenty-five bags of clothes."
"That's a problem for future Harumi," she declared, collapsing onto the tatami.
When night came, knocking echoed at the door.
It was Sakura.
And behind her… neighbors.Lots of neighbors.
With boxes.