I Married My Childhood Friend, But We’re Just Barely Getting By
TL: PuffyPyjamas
ED: Daemon
My name is Kudou Michihisa. I believe that my appearance is a little above-average. Well, Kouri says that I am handsome. My academic performance is decent. Physical ability is acceptable as well. I am just your average high school senior. If there was something that couldn’t be considered ordinary—
“Mii-kun~ C’mere for a minute~”
I could hear my beloved wife’s voice calling out to me from a distance. The name of the girl in question is Kurashiki Kouri, now Kudou Kouri. My childhood friend has been calling me by this nickname ever since we were in kindergarten.
“Ah, I am coming~ Give me a second!”
Kouri is currently a senior in high school, just like me.
She is a little small for a woman, petite even, standing at around 150 centimeters tall. Her medium-short hair that smoothly falls down to her shoulders has a slight brown hue to it. She has big and cute eyes like an adorable puppy and a friendly personality. She is especially loved by those of the same sex.
She has a rather well-proportioned body, but she has a complex about her slightly small breasts. It’s a taboo to even mention them in front of her. She excels in academics and sports alike, and her communication ability is something to be marvelled at as well.
Honestly, she’s wasted on someone like me.
Due to our relationship, we are often called a stupid couple.
Today is April 29th, and there are only 2 days for the calendar to turn to the next month. It has been about one month since we got married.
“So, what is it?”
Kouri, who in her casual clothes was sitting with her cheeks planted on the table, rotated her neck a little to stare at me. The eyes that looked at me didn’t have the usual vividness in them, they appeared to be a little dim.
Aah~ Something must have happened.
“Hey, listen to this~!”
“Yes, yes, I am listening.”
“There are two days left in the month, right?”
Kouri says while violently scratching her hair. Her hair is so nice too.
“Ah, your hair’s gonna be messed up.”
It can’t be helped so I reached out and gently stroked her hair. The childish gestures that she makes feel very charming.
“Funya~ More~ Pet me more~”
Kouri threw her arms around me with a feverish face. She makes a sweet voice as if she was a puppy asking for attention from her master. It seems that this little Chihuahua wants to be spoiled by me. Kouri has been spoiled in a similar way for a long time. As for me, I am very weak to these types of gestures of hers. They’re so cute that it can’t be helped.
I also quite like the softness and warmth when I hug her. There’s also the pleasant scent of her hair and sweat that drifts from her body.
“What’s this about two more days remaining?”
I asked while stroking her back. Kouri also loves when her back is stroked. While letting out a weird voice, she succumbed to pure bliss. Is this girl just a pet, I thought to myself as I chuckled a bit.
“Ah~ There, that feels good~ Not that! We don’t have any more money left!”
She announced the plight we were in a slightly crying voice. Oh, is it about that?
“Is the balance 1000 yen? That’s cutting it really close.”
A bill with Hideyo Noguchi’s face on it was lying on the table. That’s certainly not enough money to get through the next two days.
“I am sorry. I am no good at finance…”
Kouri said in a disheartened voice. I think she feels responsible since she was adamant on leaving it to her. It can’t be helped, I guess.
“Don’t fret too much about it. Is there any food remaining?”
“I think there’s some miso left. A little flour as well.”
“I don’t want to eat flour as it is.”
I’ll get carbohydrates that way, but I want it to at least have it feel like food.
“There are various ways to eat plain flour, such as making dumplings and serving them with miso soup.”
I imagined a dumpling made of flour floating in a bowl of miso soup. Kouri’s cooking skills are exquisite and she is able to prepare delicious food, it really stimulates my hunger.
“That’ll be our last resort. We should be able to get a pack of instant rice for 100 yen.”
“Are you suggesting that we should have rice with just soy sauce?”
She made a blatantly disgusted face.
“However, it can’t be helped. We can’t survive on an empty stomach.”
“I know, I know.”
“Let’s give up on that for the time being. Let’s think about how to eat what we have now in a somewhat delicious manner.”
“Why don’t we think about different types of seasonings we can put on rice?”
“Yes, that’s a good idea.”
“Then, mayonnaise, soy sauce, salt, miso, fish sauce, and there are others as well.”
For the time being, Kouri lists things that we can probably eat with rice. However—
“Why do we have fish sauce in our home!?”
I couldn’t really wrap my head around it, so I unintentionally ended up retorting.
“I thought I’d use it as a secret ingredient in cooking for Mii-kun.”
“I am happy, but please don’t use money unless it is absolutely necessary.”
Buying something because you might use it someday, is a demon when it comes to trying to save money.
“Ee~ I wanted to knock Mii-kun off his feet with some secret ingredient though.”
“If we had a bit more, I’ll let you do that as much as you want.”
“By the way, is fish sauce over rice delicious?”
“I’ve tried it out a little bit before, and it was surprisingly decent..”
“Seriously?”
We are having a very pitiful conversation.
“Anyway, two more days. Two more days until we receive remittance.”
Excluding rent, we get 80,000 yen per month as allowance.
We each take 5,000 yen out as pocket money, and the remaining 70,000 yen is used as a joint budget. That’s how we divide up the money.
At the beginning, even with the utility bill included, I thought it would be easy for two people to get through a month with 70,000 yen.
However, it costs a surprising amount of money as there is not only food expenses, but daily necessities and other miscellaneous expenditure as well.
The expense of detergent, toilet paper, tissue paper, etc, can’t be neglected in the least.
“I was happy to be able to flirt with Mii-kun every day! I thought.”
“So you aren’t happy?”
“I am happy, but happiness doesn’t make you full.”
Still depressed, Kouri spoke frankly about one truth in the world.
“It’s unable to fill my stomach, but I’m still happy. After all—”
I pull her body closer to mine, and we kiss each other. In addition, I intertwine my tongue with hers and enjoy the feeling of her mouth.
As Kouri gasped for a breath, I whispered my love for her, “I love you.”
“Mii-kun, you’re so unfair! If you do that, my heart will skip a beat!”
Kouri shouted as she blushed furiously. The way that she confesses that her heart skipped a beat is cute as well.
“You like it when I treat you this way, don’t you?”
“It’s so unfair! You’re a fiend that plays around with a woman’s heart.”
“I can’t exactly let that one go. Who was the one that said love over reason?”
“That was me… Anyway! We have to get it right from next month!”
She changed the topic. When her embarrassment reaches her limit, she tries to divert the topic in this manner.
“I agree with that. I want to make it as cheap as possible while keeping our diet nutritionally balanced.”
Life really is inconvenient without money. It’s the same for the food, and it costs money to go out on a date. It costs money to hang out with friends as well.
When we started living together, I realized how grateful I am for being able to have three meals a day.
“Catching the movie that releases tomorrow seems impossible.”
Kouri expressed her dissatisfaction with her whole body by flailing around her limbs. I am the only one allowed to witness such a cute action. Ehem.
Kouri is a big movie junkie, and we often went on movie dates even before we got married.
“Give it up for the time being.”
However, the remittance will be made on Friday, May 1st.
We can’t even go to the movies with the meager amount of 1000 yen.
“Uu. Movie… Movie…”
Kouri mutters in a bitter voice,
“We’re going to get more allowance for next month, so let’s go then.”
“It’s hard not to go to see it on the first day of release.”
“Unfortunately, you’ll have to hold back on that. Let’s save up on food for next month and go then.”
I tried my best to comfort her, but Kouri still seemed quite dissatisfied.
“It’s really difficult to save when it comes to that! Taking into account nutritional balance, food costs are bound to go up…”
The first month of marriage. I suggested that we think about our household budget together. However, Kouri refused and wouldn’t back down, saying, “That’s the wife’s job!”
Nevertheless, Kouri has always been incompetent at systematic shopping.
“How about we maintain a household account book?”
“It’s really annoying to maintain a household account book.”
“We’ll be getting the same amount from now on, right? Let’s hold back a bit, you got this.”
“Uuu~”
Kouri is still dissatisfied. Then
“We promised to live with each other forever, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. We promised.”
“Then, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
An important promise for both of us. I say so while hugging her tightly from behind. I-it’s warm. By the way, I also place my hands on her little breasts and feel them up.
“Again, that’s how you always deceive me. I mean, it’s lewd.”
Her complexion is getting better. She’s way too easy.
“Leaving aside the lewd things, it still feels really good to do this though?”
“Really? Even with such small breasts?”
“Yep, really. Here, look.”
“Hey, I am starting to feel it! Stop! Stop!”
When I noticed, Kouri’s face became flushed and sexy. Cute.
“Has your mood recovered?”
“Forget recovering my mood, I am becoming horny.”
She has a very loving expression on her face.
“But that’s right. Let’s do our best with the household account book!”
Gripping her arms, Kouri seemed like she’s finally on board. Easy peasy.
“That’s the spirit.”
“You think that I won’t be able to do it, right?”
“No, that’s not the case at all though?”
My wife is really sharp. We have been together ever since kindergarten after all. Yes, we have spent a really long time together.
“Hey, are you happy right now?”
I say in a serious voice.
“Yeah. I’m extremely happy and I love every day with Mii-kun. Honest.”
Kouri replied in an equally serious voice.
“I see, I am happy spending every single day with you as well.”
We were still seniors in high school. Normally, we would have been taking exams while still being dependent on our parents.
There is a good reason for this kind of personal exchange.
To talk about that, it would be necessary to talk about our unusual past and the history of our marriage.
This is cute~ Rare to see something like this where the story doesn’t start from just friend and/stranger. And the prospect of these two’s relationship just as far as holding hands, hugging and blushing for forever, seems to be not the case either! High score in my book!
On another note, translation of her name isn’t consistent. Furuta/Kouri. Which is her name really?
My bad it’s Kouri I must have missed some as I was reading through
Wow a story where the childhood friend really wins o-o. Can’t wait to see how this will go.
Have to say I found the whole ‘Furata’ thing pretty confusing. It’s in there a lot, not one or two places. Felt a bit like there was a random third person living with this couple…
Sorry it seems like I still didn’t get all of them, my bad.
That’s a really nice beginning. Thanks for the translation.
Really? Did he just compare her to Chihuahua? The little mad demon?